Rose

A rose or rhodonea curve is a sinusoid plotted in polar coordinates. Up to similarity, these curves can all be expressed by a polar equation of the form

[math]\displaystyle{ \!\,r=\cos(k\theta). }[/math]

If k is an integer, the curve will be rose shaped with

• 2k petals if k is even, and
• k petals if k is odd.

When k is even, the entire graph of the rose will be traced out exactly once when the value of θ changes from 0 to 2π. When k is odd, this will happen on the interval between 0 and π. (More generally, this will happen on any interval of length [math]\displaystyle{ 2\pi }[/math] for [math]\displaystyle{ k }[/math] even, and [math]\displaystyle{ \pi }[/math] for [math]\displaystyle{ k }[/math] odd.)

The quadrifolium is a type of rose curve with n=2. It has polar equation:

[math]\displaystyle{ r = \cos(2\theta), \, }[/math]

with corresponding algebraic equation

[math]\displaystyle{ (x^2+y^2)^3 = (x^2-y^2)^2. \, }[/math]

The JavaScript code to produce this picture

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 var len = b2.createElement('slider', [[1,7],[5,7],[0,2,2]]); 
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             {curveType:'polar', strokewidth:2});      
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External links

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_(mathematics)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrifolium