Talk:Archimedean spiral
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u stink since u dont say why it is named after him gosh darnnit i need to know for my math class, its due next week! Im screwed!HA HA screwed like his invention he made. . .P.S. tell me if you know
[edit] The obvious
Search for "Archimedes". Alternatively, use common sense - he was the one that invented it. See his scroll "On Spirals".
[edit] Definition Locus vs. polar coordinates
I really think the locus definition should come first. It is the true origin of the curve (there were no functions back then) and it gives the reader a better sense of what it is. The polar coordinates definition is no more precise and, for most people, totally meaningless.
Rather, than just changing it back to my last edit we should talk about this. I mean it's like saying a circle is "r^2 = x^2 + y^2" that only works in ONE context: the cartesian plane-- the locus definition is useful in any context-- futurebird 04:00, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
Here is an even better one:
If a fly crawls radially outward along a uniformly spinning disk, the curve it traces with respect to a reference frame in which the disk is at rest is an Archimedean spiral (Steinhaus 1999, p. 137).
- Modern notation should come first, historical notes later. There's no point in writing up a mathematical article in words when there's a perfectly good 6-character equation that describes the same thing. As a historical note, it is interesting; that's why I think the second paragraph is the perfect spot for it. As for what lay readers will get the most out of, it's the picture, not the equation nor textual description. -- Xerxes 16:49, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
