Conchoid of Nicomedes/Examples

Examples of Conchoids of Nicomedes

The above diagram illustrates the conchoid of Nicomedes for $b = 1$ and various values of $a$ from $0$ to $3$.

Also see

• Results about the conchoid of Nicomedes can be found here.

Source of Name

This entry was named for Nicomedes.

Historical Note

Nicomedes designed the curve now known as the conchoid of Nicomedes specifically for solving the problem of Doubling the Cube.

It can also be used for Trisecting the Angle.

Linguistic Note

The word conchoid derives from the Latin concha, which means mussel.

Ultimately the word derives from the Ancient Greek κόγχη (kónkhē) plus -oid, or directly from Ancient Greek κογχοειδής (konkhoeidḗs), which refers to anything with the general shape of a mussel shell.

It is properly pronounced kon-khoid, where the kh sound is the one found in the Scots loch or German ich.

However, it is commonplace to use the pronunciation kon-koid.

Note that the pronunciations kon-tshoid and kon-shoid are technically incorrect.

Sources

• Weisstein, Eric W. "Conchoid of Nicomedes." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/ConchoidofNicomedes.html