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Math-PlanePath-83
River stage one • 3 direct dependents • 4 total dependents
2 ++
/ Math::PlanePath::ArchimedeanChords

NAME

Math::PlanePath::ArchimedeanChords -- radial spiral chords

SYNOPSIS

 use Math::PlanePath::ArchimedeanChords;
 my $path = Math::PlanePath::ArchimedeanChords->new;
 my ($x, $y) = $path->n_to_xy (123);

DESCRIPTION

This path puts points at unit chord steps along an Archimedean spiral. The spiral goes outwards by 1 unit each revolution and the points are spaced 1 apart. The result is roughly

                         31              
                   32          30         ...                3
             33                   29
                      14
       34       15          13          28    50             2
                                  12
             16        3
    35                       2             27    49          1
                    4                11
          17
    36           5        0     1          26    48     <- Y=0
                                     10
          18
    37              6                      25    47         -1
                                   9
             19        7     8          24    46
       38                                                   -2
                20                23
          39          21    22             45
                                                            -3
                40                   44
                   41    42    43


                          ^
       -3    -2    -1    X=0    1     2     3     4

X,Y positions returned are fractional. Each revolution is about 2*pi longer than the previous, so the effect is a kind of 6.28 increment looping.

Because the spacing is by unit chords, adjacent unit circles centred on each N position touch but don't overlap. The spiral spacing of 1 unit per revolution means they don't overlap radially either.

The unit chords here are a little like the TheodorusSpiral. But the TheodorusSpiral goes by unit steps at a fixed right-angle and approximates an Archimedean spiral (of 3.14 radial spacing). Whereas this ArchimedeanChords is an actual Archimedean spiral (of radial spacing 1), with unit steps angling along that.

FUNCTIONS

See "FUNCTIONS" in Math::PlanePath for behaviour common to all path classes.

$path = Math::PlanePath::ArchimedeanChords->new ()

Create and return a new path object.

($x,$y) = $path->n_to_xy ($n)

Return the X,Y coordinates of point number $n on the path.

$n can be any value $n >= 0 and fractions give positions on the chord between the integer points (ie. straight line between the points). $n==0 is the origin 0,0.

For $n < 0 the return is an empty list, it being considered there are no negative points in the spiral.

$n = $path->xy_to_n ($x,$y)

Return an integer point number for coordinates $x,$y. Each integer N is considered the centre of a circle of diameter 1 and an $x,$y within that circle returns N.

The unit spacing of the spiral means those circles don't overlap, but they also don't cover the plane and if $x,$y is not within one then the return is undef.

The current implementation is a bit slow.

$n = $path->n_start ()

Return 0, the first $n on the path.

$str = $path->figure ()

Return "circle".

FORMULAS

N to X,Y

The current code keeps a position as a polar angle t and calculates an increment u needed to move along by a unit chord. If dist(u) is the straight-line distance between t and t+u, then squared is the hypotenuse

    dist^2(u) =   ((t+u)/2pi*cos(t+u) - t/2pi*cos(t))^2     # X
                + ((t+u)/2pi*sin(t+u) - t/2pi*sin(t))^2     # Y

which simplifies to

    dist^2(u) = [ (t+u)^2 + t^2 - 2*t*(t+u)*cos(u) ] / (4*pi^2)

Switch from cos to sin using the half angle cos(u) = 1 - 2*sin^2(u/2) in case if u is small then the cos(u) near 1.0 might lose floating point accuracy, and also as a slight simplification,

    dist^2(u) = [ u^2 + 4*t*(t+u)*sin^2(u/2) ] / (4*pi^2)

Then want the u which has dist(u)=1 for a unit chord. The u*sin(u) part probably doesn't have a good closed form inverse, so the current code is a Newton/Raphson iteration on f(u) = dist^2(u)-1, seeking f(u)=0

    f(u) = u^2 + 4*t*(t+u)*sin^2(u/2) - 4*pi^2

Derivative f'(u) for the slope from the cos form is

    f'(u) = 2*(t+u) - 2*t*[ cos(u) - (t+u)*sin(u) ]

And again switching from cos to sin in case u is small,

    f'(u) = 2*[ u + t*[2*sin^2(u/2) + (t+u)*sin(u)] ]

X,Y to N

A given x,y point is at a fraction of a revolution

    frac = atan2(y,x) / 2pi     # -.5 <= frac <= .5
    frac += (frac < 0)          # 0 <= frac < 1

And the nearest spiral arm measured radially from x,y is then

    r = int(hypot(x,y) + .5 - frac) + frac

Perl's atan2 is the same as the C library and gives -pi <= angle <= pi, hence allowing for frac<0. It may also be "unspecified" for x=0,y=0, and give +/-pi for x=negzero, which has to be a special case so 0,0 gives r=0. The int rounds towards zero, so frac>.5 ends up as r=0.

So the N point just before or after that spiral position may cover the x,y, but how many N chords it takes to get around to there is 's not so easily calculated.

The current code looks in saved n_to_xy() positions for an N below the target, and searches up from there until past the target and thus not covering x,y. With n_to_xy() points saved 500 apart this means searching somewhere between 1 and 500 points.

One possibility for calculating a lower bound for N, instead of the saved positions, and both for xy_to_n() and rect_to_n_range(), would be to add up chords in circles. A circle of radius k fits pi/arcsin(1/2k) many unit chords, so

             k=floor(r)     pi
    total = sum         ------------
             k=0        arcsin(1/2k)

and this is less than the chords along the spiral. Is there a good polynomial over-estimate of arcsin, to become an under-estimate total, without giving away so much?

Rectangle to N Range

For the rect_to_n_range() upper bound, the current code takes the arc length along with spiral with the usual formula

    arc = 1/4pi * (theta*sqrt(1+theta^2) + asinh(theta))

Written in terms of the r radius (theta = 2pi*r) as calculated from the biggest of the rectangle x,y corners,

    arc = pi*r^2*sqrt(1+1/r^2) + asinh(2pi*r)/4pi

The arc length is longer than chords, so N=ceil(arc) is an upper bound for the N range.

An upper bound can also be calculated simply from the circumferences of circles 1 to r, since a spiral loop from radius k to k+1 is shorter than a circle of radius k.

             k=ceil(r)
    total = sum         2pi*k
             k=1

          = pi*r*(r+1)

This is bigger than the arc length, thus a poorer upper bound, but an easier calculation. (Incidentally, for smallish r have arc length <= pi*(r^2+1) which is a tighter bound and an easy calculation, but it only holds up to somewhere around r=10^7.)

SEE ALSO

Math::PlanePath, Math::PlanePath::TheodorusSpiral, Math::PlanePath::SacksSpiral

HOME PAGE

http://user42.tuxfamily.org/math-planepath/index.html

LICENSE

Copyright 2010, 2011, 2012 Kevin Ryde

This file is part of Math-PlanePath.

Math-PlanePath is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option) any later version.

Math-PlanePath is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with Math-PlanePath. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.