Choosing nodes in parametric curve interpolation (Q1122288)

Let be given a set of points \(P_ k=(x_ k,y_ k)\) \((k=1,...,n)\) in the plane and let \(x_ 1<...<x_ n\) not necessarily be valid. Parametric curve interpolation means to choose parameters \(0=t_ 1<t_ 2<...<t_ n\) and functions \(x=x(t)\) and \(y=y(t)\) such that \(P(t)=(x(t),y(t))\) passes through the given points. The problem is considered how to choose the \(t_ k\). Postponing a normalization \(t_ 1+t_ 2+...+t_ n=1\) the usual choice is \(t_ k=t_{k-1}+d_ k\) where \(d_ k=((x_ k-x_{k-1})^ 2+(y_ k-y_{k-1})^ 2)^{1/2}\) \((k=2,...,n)\). Using a centripedal model the author motivates the choice \(t_ k=t_{k-1}+d^ p_ k\) with \(p=1/2\) and shows (also varying p between 0 and 1) for a number of examples that he gets visually more pleasant curves than for \(p=1\).