circle inversion

noun

circle inversion

noun
1

Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences A transformation that maps any point P ≠ O to the point P’ on the ray from O through P for which OP × OP’ = r², and which maps O to the point at infinity.

Inversive geometry For a given circle with centre O and radius r

  • The first of these is obtained by the method of circle inversion first discovered by Peaucellier.1875, A. B. Kempe, On Some New Limkages: Messenger of Mathematics, volume 4, page 121:
  • Nikolai Joukowski (1847-1921) was a Russian mathematician who did research in aerodynamics (James and James, 1992). He used circle inversion in the complex number plane to study airfoil shapes.1997, Mathematical Association of America, MAA Notes, numbers 41-42, page 169:
1 more example
  • As is common with nonlinear projections, it is possible to come up with many variants of circle inversions.[…]An obvious (but perhaps not very useful) extension of circle inversion is sphere inversion, where the spaces inside and outside a sphere are swapped.2011, David Salomon, The Computer Graphics Manual, page 88:
Synonyms
transformation
Related terms
sphere inversion

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.