The Equiangular Spiral - Summary

Author(s): 
Lang Moore, David Smith, and Bill Mueller

  1. Describe in general terms the process of finding a polar formula from the radial measurements on a seashell picture.

  2. What happens when you zoom in at the center of an equiangular spiral? The behavior you observed is called self-similarity. Explain the name.

  3. What remains constant as r grows in an equiangular spiral?

  4. Describe in geometric terms why the equiangular spiral has the name it has.

  5. What is the shape of an equiangular spiral with beta = pi/2? How is this reflected in the formula for r as a function of theta? How is it reflected in the relationship between beta and k?