From Elastica to Floating Bodies of Equilibrium

Abstract: A short historical account of the curves related to the two-dimensional floating bodies of equilibrium and the bicycle problem is given. Bor, Levi, Perline and Tabachnikov found, quite a number had already been described as Elastica by Bernoulli and Euler and as Elastica under Pressure or Buckled Rings by Levy and Halphen. Auerbach already realized that Zindler had described curves for the floating bodies problem. An even larger class of curves solves the bicycle problem. The subsequent sections deal with some supplemental details: Several derivations of the equations for the elastica and elastica under pressure are given. Properties of Zindler curves and some work on the problem of floating bodies of equilibrium by other mathematicians are considered. Special cases of elastica under pressure reduce to algebraic curves, as shown by Greenhill. Since most of the curves considered here are bicycle curves, a few remarks concerning them are added.