A motion with a permanent segment-areal speed and the Levi-Cività functional equation (Q5953392): Difference between revisions

A motion \(t\to (t,\alpha(t))\) along a continuous curve in \(\mathbb{R}^2\) is said to have permanent segment-areal speed if the area of the segment between the arc \(\{(t,\alpha(t)) \in\mathbb{R}^2 |t_1\leq t\leq t_2\}\) and the line through \((t_1,\alpha (t_1))\) and \((t_2,\alpha (t_2))\) only depends on the difference \(t_2-t_1\). The author proves that such a motion exists if (the easy way) and only if (the hard way) the curve is a conic section or a line. The proof uses the explicit formulas, which are known from the literature, of the solutions of the Levi-Cività functional equation.