Good approximation of circles by curvature-continuous Bézier curves (Q753395)

Some methods for approximating circular arcs with parametrically defined piecewise cubic polynomial curves are presented. The methods are based on the Bézier representation of piecewise polynomials and yield convergence of sixth order. The methods use the quantity \(\psi (x)=| x(t)^ 2+y(t)^ 2-1|\) as a measure of the error in the circle approximation because it is independent of any particular parametrization of the circle. Joining the Bézier segments, an approximation to the circle is obtained with continuous tangent and curvature. For 45\(\circ\) segments the error is approximately \(2.10^{-6}\).