Author(s):
Lang Moore, David Smith, and Bill Mueller
- Describe in general terms the process of finding a polar formula from the radial measurements on a seashell picture.
- What happens when you zoom in at the center of an equiangular spiral? The behavior you observed is called self-similarity. Explain the name.
- What remains constant as r grows in an equiangular spiral?
- Describe in geometric terms why the equiangular spiral has the name it has.
- 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?
Lang Moore, David Smith, and Bill Mueller, "The Equiangular Spiral - Summary," Convergence (December 2004)