A characterization of quintic helices (Q2370570): Difference between revisions

A generalized helix (curve of constant slope) in 3-space is a curve whose tangents determine a constant angle with a fixed line. The main result of the paper is that a curve \(c\) with a polynomial parametric representation \({\mathbf x} = {\mathbf x}(t)\) of degree 5 is a generalized helix if and only if both \(| | \frac{d}{dt}{\mathbf x}(t)| | \) and \(| | \frac{d}{dt}{\mathbf x}(t) \times \frac{d^2}{(dt)^2}{\mathbf x}(t)| | \) are polynomials.