# Whats the design called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2009, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433 "2009-06-21T00:56:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433/21 "2009-06-21T13:14:20Z")
You’re definitely talking about approximating a curve by drawing its tangents. I’ve done it, but have never heard another name for it. ---
**Author:** ![Wisthekiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/2acd7d/32.png) [@Wisthekiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wisthekiller)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433/22 "2009-06-21T13:51:25Z")
It’s what pulykamell put up. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433/23 "2009-06-21T13:58:02Z")
Is the name you’re looking for “[Bézier curve](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9zier_curve)”, perhaps? \*\*\* Ponder ---
**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433/24 "2009-06-21T14:39:06Z")
My art teacher called it “aestheometry.” I have no idea if that’s the right spelling, though. That’s just my best guess based on what it sounded like. I don’t recall him ever writing it down. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433/25 "2009-06-21T14:42:40Z")
Yup, seems like “aestheometry” is in fact the right spelling. Wikipedia doesn’t have an entry for it, but what shows up in a Google search seems like what you’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Wisthekiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/2acd7d/32.png) [@Wisthekiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wisthekiller)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433/26 "2009-06-21T14:57:43Z")
That’s it thetruewheel! Its is the third picture in project 6.3: [Home - The Nature of Mathematics - 13th Edition](http://www.mathnature.com/geometry/projects/individual.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Wisthekiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/2acd7d/32.png) [@Wisthekiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wisthekiller)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433/27 "2009-06-21T23:47:39Z")
New question: To make one of those ,what would the dimensions in centimeters be if the circle had to go around a 9.5cm by 5cm square? I have no idea how to go about solving this question. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433/28 "2009-06-22T00:29:54Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > So, one of [these](http://www.metacafe.com/watch/972422/straight_lines_draw_a_perfect_circle/) things? I’d have to dispute their definition of a “perfect circle.” Unless they can draw an infinite number of straight lines, they’ve got a “many sided polygon which looks a lot like a circle.” [/picking nits] (At least they didn’t say “literally a perfect circle.” That would have made my head explode.) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433/29 "2009-06-22T01:20:24Z")
> [@Wisthekiller](#): > > New question: To make one of those ,what would the dimensions in centimeters be if the circle had to go around a 9.5cm by 5cm square? I have no idea how to go about solving this question. If you have a 9.5 cm x 5 cm square on you, then you will immediate get a Nobel Prize. 🙂 I’m going to assume you meant produce a circle that touches a 9.5 x 5 cm rectangle at its four corners. But I’m not sure you’re giving enough information for that either. Couldn’t you start at any outside point and have at least some segments properly tangent? Or am I misunderstanding what you meant? ---
**Author:** ![Wisthekiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/2acd7d/32.png) [@Wisthekiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wisthekiller)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433/30 "2009-06-22T01:56:00Z")
I mean the circle must be all the way around the RECTANGLE, sorry for square, it can touch the edges of the rectangle, but its not necessary, I need the minimum square to make a circle. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433/31 "2009-06-22T02:21:11Z")
Seems like the same kind of method employed in [String Art.](http://www.trocadero.com/condonkay/items/278311/catphoto.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433/32 "2009-06-22T03:17:13Z")
> [@thirdwarning](#): > > Isn’t that a parabolic curve? This. Even with an infinte number of lines each quadrant converges to a parabola and not a circle. We discussed it [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=482699). ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433/33 "2009-06-22T17:10:41Z")
The art aspect does seem to be called Aestheometry (not to be confused with Aesthesiometry) , but the strict mathematical term would seem to be an [envelope](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envelope_(mathematics)). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-design-called/500433.md?page=1)