page_title: Cycloid
section_title: Other uses
hierarchical_section_title: Cycloid / Other uses
caption_attribution_description: English: The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, TX from southwest of the museum.
context_page_description: In geometry, a cycloid is the curve traced by a point on a circle as it rolls along a straight line without slipping. A cycloid is a specific form of trochoid and is an example of a roulette, a curve generated by a curve rolling on another curve.
  The cycloid, with the cusps pointing upward, is the curve of fastest descent under constant gravity. It is also the form of a curve for which the period of an object in simple harmonic motion along the curve does not depend on the object's starting position.
context_section_description: The cycloidal arch was used by architect Louis Kahn in his design for the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. It was also used in the design of the Hopkins Center in Hanover, New Hampshire.
  Early research indicated that some transverse arching curves of the plates of golden age violins are closely modeled by curtate cycloid curves. Later work indicates that curtate cycloids do not serve as general models for these curves, which vary considerably.
caption: Cycloidal arches at the Kimbell Art Museum
exif: {}