Talk:Helix
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[edit] Vague description of "handedness"
The article says "If the curve of the helix moves from the lower left to the upper right, then it is a right-handed helix." This seems to assume an imaginary "box" or a field-of-view, otherwise terms like "lower left" have no meaning. A helix would have to be oriented a certain way in this "box" before describing a lower-left. For example, if I view a right-handed spring from its side, such that its length is vertical, then the description is correct. (I don't want to be hasty in adding this clarification, because I'm not certain if I'm correctly interpreting the description. Someone please give a second opinion.) Viewing the same spring situated horizontally yields movement from upper-left to lower-right. Worse yet, if I view a spring facing the cross-section, then direction of movement can't be described with up/down/left/right. -KKL 16:18, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
