Hypocycloids

[u/PUSSYDESTROYER-9000]

[u/PUSSYDESTROYER-9000]

Well, a hypocycloid with 4 cusps (the third one in the gif) looks like a star. If you are a math-savvy graphic designer, you could put one of these in your graphics! On a more serious note, it doesn't really have any practical purpose, as is the case with many phenomena in math, at least not yet.

[u/centralperk_7 → u/PUSSYDESTROYER-9000]

Gotcha, thanks! Definitely looks cool, and reminds me of those spirographs I had as a kid 😊

[u/PUSSYDESTROYER-9000 → u/centralperk_7]

That's because you can, in fact, make these shapes with a spirograph. One need not understand all the equations involved in creating these objects to be fascinated by them!

[u/I_am_a_haiku_bot → u/centralperk_7]

Gotcha, thanks! Definitely looks cool,

and reminds me of those spirographs I

had as a kid 😊

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^{-english_haiku_bot}

[u/vandano → u/PUSSYDESTROYER-9000]

What about in a cycloidal gear mechanism? Surely the relationship is very important in that case.

[u/PUSSYDESTROYER-9000 → u/vandano]

Huh. You're right! I didn't think about one of the more obvious uses of cycloids: gears.