Witch of Agnesi

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File:Witch of Agnesi curves.svg
Selected witch of Agnesi curves (green), and the circles they are constructed from (blue), with radius parameters a=1, a=2, a=4, and a=8.

In mathematics, the witch of Agnesi (Script error: No such module "IPA".) is a cubic plane curve defined from two diametrically opposite points of a circle.

The curve was studied as early as 1653 by Pierre de Fermat, in 1703 by Guido Grandi, and by Isaac Newton. It gets its name from Italian mathematician Maria Gaetana Agnesi who published it in 1748. The Italian name Script error: No such module "Lang". is based on Latin Script error: No such module "Lang". (sheet of sailing ships) and the sinus versus. This was read by John Colson as Script error: No such module "Lang"., where Script error: No such module "Lang". is translated as "woman who is against God" and interpreted as "witch".[1][2][3][4]

The graph of the derivative of the arctangent function forms an example of the witch of Agnesi. As the probability density function of the Cauchy distribution, the witch of Agnesi has applications in probability theory. It also gives rise to Runge's phenomenon in the approximation of functions by polynomials, has been used to approximate the energy distribution of spectral lines, and models the shape of hills.

The witch is tangent to its defining circle at one of the two defining points, and asymptotic to the tangent line to the circle at the other point. It has a unique vertex (a point of extreme curvature) at the point of tangency with its defining circle, which is also its osculating circle at that point. It also has two finite inflection points and one infinite inflection point. The area between the witch and its asymptotic line is four times the area of the defining circle, and the volume of revolution of the curve around its defining line is twice the volume of the torus of revolution of its defining circle.

Construction

File:Witch of Agnesi, construction.svg
The witch of Agnesi (curve MP) with labeled points
File:Agnesi.gif
An animation showing the construction of the witch of Agnesi

To construct this curve, start with any two points O and M, and draw a circle with OM as diameter. For any other point A on the circle, let N be the point of intersection of the secant line OA and the tangent line at M. Let P be the point of intersection of a line perpendicular to OM through A, and a line parallel to OM through N. Then P lies on the witch of Agnesi. The witch consists of all the points P that can be constructed in this way from the same choice of O and M.[5]Template:R/superscript It includes, as a limiting case, the point M itself.

Equations

Suppose that point O is at the origin and point M lies on the positive y-axis, and that the circle with diameter OM has radius a. Then the witch constructed from O and M has the Cartesian equation[6]Template:R/superscript[7]Template:R/superscript y=8a3x2+4a2=(2a)3(x)2+(2a)2. This equation can be simplified, by choosing a=12, to the form y=1x2+1. or equivalently, by clearing denominators, as the cubic algebraic equation (x2+1)y=1. In its simplified form, this curve is the graph of the derivative of the arctangent function.[8]Template:R/superscript

The witch of Agnesi can also be described by parametric equations whose parameter θ is the angle between OM and OA, measured clockwise:[6]Template:R/superscript[7]Template:R/superscript x=2atan⁡θ,y=2acos2θ.

Properties

The main properties of this curve can be derived from integral calculus. The area between the witch and its asymptotic line is four times the area of the fixed circle, 4πa2.[6]Template:R/superscript[7]Template:R/superscript[9]Template:R/superscript The volume of revolution of the witch of Agnesi about its asymptote is 4π2a3.[6]Template:R/superscript This is two times the volume of the torus formed by revolving the defining circle of the witch around the same line.[9]Template:R/superscript

The curve has a unique vertex at the point of tangency with its defining circle. That is, this point is the only point where the curvature reaches a local minimum or local maximum.[10]Template:R/superscript The defining circle of the witch is also its osculating circle at the vertex,[11]Template:R/superscript the unique circle that "kisses" the curve at that point by sharing the same orientation and curvature.[12]Template:R/superscript Because this is an osculating circle at the vertex of the curve, it has third-order contact with the curve.[13]Template:R/superscript

The curve has two inflection points, at the points (±2a3,3a2) corresponding to the angles θ=±π/6.[6]Template:R/superscript[7]Template:R/superscript When considered as a curve in the projective plane there is also a third infinite inflection point, at the point where the line at infinity is crossed by the asymptotic line.[14]Template:R/superscript It has an isolated singular point, at the point where the line at infinity is crossed by its axis of symmetry.[15]Template:R/superscript As the graph of a rational function 1/(x2+1), it is a rational parametric curve, but not one that can be given a polynomial parameterization.[16]Template:R/superscript

The largest area of a rectangle that can be inscribed between the witch and its asymptote is 4a2, for a rectangle whose height is the radius of the defining circle and whose width is twice the diameter of the circle.[9]Template:R/superscript

History

Early studies

File:Witch of Agnesi (Agnesi, 1748).jpg
Agnesi's 1748 illustration of the curve and its construction[17]Template:R/superscript

The curve was studied by Pierre de Fermat in his 1659 treatise on quadrature. In it, Fermat computes the area under the curve and (without details) claims that the same method extends as well to the cissoid of Diocles. Fermat writes that the curve was suggested to him "ab erudito geometra" [by a learned geometer].[18]Template:R/superscript Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. speculate that the geometer who suggested this curve to Fermat might have been Antoine de Laloubère.[19]Template:R/superscript

The construction given above for this curve was found by Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.; the same construction was also found earlier by Isaac Newton, but only published posthumously later, in 1779.[20]Template:R/superscript Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. also suggested the name versiera (in Italian) or versoria (in Latin) for the curve.[21] The Latin term is also used for a sheet, the rope which turns the sail, but Grandi may have instead intended merely to refer to the versine function that appeared in his construction.[9]Template:R/superscript[20]Template:R/superscript[22]Template:R/superscript[23]Template:R/superscript

In 1748, Maria Gaetana Agnesi published Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana, an early textbook on calculus.[17]Template:R/superscript In it, after first considering two other curves, she includes a study of this curve. She defines the curve geometrically as the locus of points satisfying a certain proportion, determines its algebraic equation, and finds its vertex, asymptotic line, and inflection points.[24]Template:R/superscript

Etymology

Maria Gaetana Agnesi named the curve according to Grandi, versiera.[22]Template:R/superscript[24]Template:R/superscript Coincidentally, at that time in Italy it was common to speak of the Devil through other words like aversiero or versiero, derived from Latin adversarius, the "adversary" of God. Versiera, in particular, was used to indicate the wife of the devil, or "witch".[25]Template:R/superscript Because of this, Cambridge professor John Colson mistranslated the name of the curve as "witch".[26]Template:R/superscript Different modern works about Agnesi and about the curve suggest slightly different guesses how exactly this mistranslation happened.[27]Template:R/superscript[28]Template:R/superscript Struik mentions that:[24]Template:R/superscript

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The word [versiera] is derived from Latin vertere, to turn, but is also an abbreviation of Italian avversiera, female devil. Some wit in England once translated it 'witch', and the silly pun is still lovingly preserved in most of our textbooks in English language. ... The curve had already appeared in the writings of Fermat (Oeuvres, I, 279–280; III, 233–234) and of others; the name versiera is from Guido Grandi (Quadratura circuli et hyperbolae, Pisa, 1703). The curve is type 63 in Newton's classification. ... The first to use the term 'witch' in this sense may have been B. Williamson, Integral calculus, 7 (1875), 173;[29]Template:R/superscript see Oxford English Dictionary.

On the other hand, Stephen Stigler suggests that Grandi himself "may have been indulging in a play on words", a double pun connecting the devil to the versine and the sine function to the shape of the female breast (both of which can be written as "seno" in Italian).[20]Template:R/superscript

Applications

A scaled version of the curve is the probability density function of the Cauchy distribution. This is the probability distribution on the random variable x determined by the following random experiment: for a fixed point p above the x-axis, choose uniformly at random a line through p, and let x be the coordinate of the point where this random line crosses the axis. The Cauchy distribution has a peaked distribution visually resembling the normal distribution, but its heavy tails prevent it from having an expected value by the usual definitions, despite its symmetry. In terms of the witch itself, this means that the x-coordinate of the centroid of the region between the curve and its asymptotic line is not well-defined, despite this region's symmetry and finite area.[20]Template:R/superscript[30]Template:R/superscript

In numerical analysis, when approximating functions using polynomial interpolation with equally spaced interpolation points, it may be the case for some functions that using more points creates worse approximations, so that the interpolation diverges from the function it is trying to approximate rather than converging to it. This paradoxical behavior is called Runge's phenomenon. It was first discovered by Carl David Tolmé Runge for Runge's function y=1/(1+25x2), another scaled version of the witch of Agnesi, when interpolating this function over the interval [−1,1]. The same phenomenon occurs for the witch y=1/(1+x2) itself over the wider interval [−5,5].[31]Template:R/superscript

The witch of Agnesi approximates the spectral energy distribution of spectral lines, particularly X-ray lines.[32]Template:R/superscript

The cross-section of a smooth hill has a similar shape to the witch.[33]Template:R/superscript Curves with this shape have been used as the generic topographic obstacle in a flow in mathematical modeling.[34]Template:R/superscript[35]Template:R/superscript Solitary waves in deep water can also take this shape.[36]Template:R/superscript[37]Template:R/superscript

A version of this curve was used by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz to derive the Leibniz formula for π. This formula, the infinite series π4=1−13+15−17+19−⋯, can be derived by equating the area under the curve with the integral of the function 1/(1+x2), using the Taylor series expansion of this function as the infinite geometric series 1−x2+x4−x6+⋯, and integrating term-by-term.[7]Template:R/superscript

The Witch of Agnesi is the title of a novel by Robert Spiller. It includes a scene in which a teacher gives a version of the history of the term.[38]Template:R/superscript

Witch of Agnesi is also the title of a music album by jazz quartet Radius. The cover of the album features an image of the construction of the witch.[39]Template:R/superscript

References

  1. ^ Wolfram MathWorld, Witch of Agnesi
  2. ^ Lynn M. Osen: Women in Mathematics. MIT Press, Cambridge MA 1975, ISBN 0-262-15014-X, S. 45.
  3. ^ Simon Singh: Fermat’s Enigma. The quest to solve the world’s greatest mathematical problem. Walker Books, New York 1997, ISBN 0-471-27047-4, S. 100.
  4. ^ David J. Darling: The universal book of mathematics. From Abracadabra to Zeno’s paradoxes. Wiley International, Hoboken NJ 2004, ISBN 0-8027-1331-9, S. 8.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Eagles, Thomas Henry (1885), "The Witch of Agnesi", Constructive Geometry of Plane Curves: With Numerous Examples, Macmillan and Company, pp. 313–314
  6. ^ a b c d e Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lawrence, J. Dennis (2013), "4.3 Witch of Agnesi (Fermat, 1666; Agnesi, 1748)", A Catalog of Special Plane Curves, Dover Books on Mathematics, Courier Corporation, pp. 90–93, ISBN 9780486167664
  7. ^ a b c d e Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Yates, Robert C. (1954), "Witch of Agnesi", Curves and their Properties (PDF), Classics in Mathematics Education, vol. 4, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, pp. 237–238
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Cohen, David W.; Henle, James M. (2005), Calculus: The Language of Change, Jones & Bartlett Learning, p. 351, ISBN 9780763729479
  9. ^ a b c d Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Larsen, Harold D. (January 1946), "The Witch of Agnesi", School Science and Mathematics, 46 (1): 57–62, doi:10.1111/j.1949-8594.1946.tb04418.x
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gibson, C. G. (2001), Elementary Geometry of Differentiable Curves: An Undergraduate Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Exercise 9.1.9, p. 131, doi:10.1017/CBO9781139173377, ISBN 0-521-80453-1, MR 1855907
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Haftendorn, Dörte (2017), "4.1 Versiera, die Hexenkurve", Kurven erkunden und verstehen (in Deutsch), Springer, pp. 79–91, doi:10.1007/978-3-658-14749-5, ISBN 978-3-658-14748-8. For the osculating circle, see in particular p. 81: "Der erzeugende Kreis ist der Krümmungskreis der weiten Versiera in ihrem Scheitel."
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lipsman, Ronald L.; Rosenberg, Jonathan M. (2017), Multivariable Calculus with MATLAB®: With Applications to Geometry and Physics, Springer, p. 42, ISBN 9783319650708, The circle "kisses" the curve accurately to second order, thus is given the name osculating circle (from the Latin word for "kissing").
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Fuchs, Dmitry; Tabachnikov, Serge (2007), Mathematical Omnibus: Thirty Lectures on Classic Mathematics, Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society, p. 142, doi:10.1090/mbk/046, ISBN 978-0-8218-4316-1, MR 2350979
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Arnold, V. I. (2005), "The principle of topological economy in algebraic geometry", Surveys in modern mathematics, London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series, vol. 321, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 13–23, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511614156.003, ISBN 978-0-521-54793-2, MR 2166922. See in particular pp. 15–16.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ferréol, Robert (2019), "Witch of Agnesi", Encyclopédie des formes mathématiques remarquables, retrieved 4 October 2025
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Fomin, Sergey; Shustin, Eugenii (2023), "Expressive curves", Communications of the American Mathematical Society, 3: 669–743, arXiv:2006.14066, doi:10.1090/cams/12, MR 4633650; see example 4.5, p.19 of arXiv version
  17. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Agnesi, Maria Gaetana (1748), Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventú italiana See in particular Problem 3, pp. 380–382, and Fig. 135.
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.de Fermat, Pierre (1891), Oevres (in Latina), vol. 1, Gauthier-Villars et fils, pp. 280–285
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Paradís, Jaume; Pla, Josep; Viader, Pelegrí (2008), "Fermat's method of quadrature", Revue d'Histoire des Mathématiques, 14 (1): 5–51, MR 2493381, archived from the original on 8 August 2019, retrieved 18 May 2018
  20. ^ a b c d Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Stigler, Stephen M. (August 1974), "Studies in the History of Probability and Statistics. XXXIII. Cauchy and the Witch of Agnesi: An Historical Note on the Cauchy Distribution", Biometrika, 61 (2): 375–380, doi:10.1093/biomet/61.2.375, JSTOR 2334368, MR 0370838
  21. ^ In his notes to Galileo's "Trattato del moto naturalmente accelerato," Grandi had referred to "quella curva che io descrivo nel mio libro delle quadrature [1703], alla prop. IV, nata da' seni versi, che da me suole chiamarsi Versiera, in latino però Versoria." See Galilei, Opere, 3: 393. One finds the new term in Lorenzo Lorenzini, Exercitatio geometrica, xxxi: "sit pro exemplo curva illa, quam Doctissimus magnusque geometra Guido Grandus versoria nominat."
  22. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Truesdell, C. (1991), "Correction and Additions for "Maria Gaetana Agnesi"", Archive for History of Exact Sciences, 43 (4): 385–386, doi:10.1007/BF00374764, […] nata da' seni versi, che da me suole chiamarsi la Versiera in latino però Versoria […]
  23. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Grandi, G. (1718), "Note al trattato del Galileo del moto naturale accellerato", Opera Di Galileo Galilei (in italiano), vol. III, Florence, p. 393. As cited by Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found..
  24. ^ a b c A translation of Agnesi's work on this curve can be found in: Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Struik, Dirk J. (1969), A Source Book in Mathematics, 1200–1800, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, pp. 178–180
  25. ^ Pietro Fanfani, Vocabolario dell'uso toscano, p. 334
  26. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Mulcrone, T. F. (1957), "The names of the curve of Agnesi", American Mathematical Monthly, 64 (5): 359–361, doi:10.2307/2309605, JSTOR 2309605, MR 0085163
  27. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Singh, Simon (1997), Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem, New York: Walker and Company, p. 100, ISBN 0-8027-1331-9, MR 1491363
  28. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Darling, David (2004), The Universal Book of Mathematics: From Abracadabra to Zeno's Paradoxes, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, p. 8, ISBN 0-471-27047-4, MR 2078978
  29. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 2018, witch, n.2, 4(e), retrieved 3 July 2018, 1875 B. Williamson Elem. Treat. Integral Calculus vii. 173 Find the area between the witch of Agnesi xy2=4a2(2a−x) and its asymptote.
  30. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Alexander, J. McKenzie (2012), "Decision theory meets the Witch of Agnesi", Journal of Philosophy, 109 (12): 712–727, doi:10.5840/jphil20121091233
  31. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Cupillari, Antonella; DeThomas, Elizabeth (Spring 2007), "Unmasking the witchy behavior of the Runge function", Mathematics and Computer Education, 41 (2): 143–156, Template:ProQuest
  32. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Spencer, Roy C. (September 1940), "Properties of the Witch of Agnesi—Application to Fitting the Shapes of Spectral Lines", Journal of the Optical Society of America, 30 (9): 415, Bibcode:1940JOSA...30..415S, doi:10.1364/josa.30.000415
  33. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Coppin, P. A.; Bradley, E. F.; Finnigan, J. J. (April 1994), "Measurements of flow over an elongated ridge and its thermal stability dependence: The mean field", Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 69 (1–2): 173–199, Bibcode:1994BoLMe..69..173C, doi:10.1007/bf00713302, S2CID 119956741, A useful general form for the hill shape is the so-called 'Witch of Agnesi' profile
  34. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Snyder, William H.; Thompson, Roger S.; Eskridge, Robert E.; Lawson, Robert E.; Castro, Ian P.; Lee, J. T.; Hunt, Julian C. R.; Ogawa, Yasushi (March 1985), "The structure of strongly stratified flow over hills: dividing-streamline concept", Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 152 (–1): 249, Bibcode:1985JFM...152..249S, doi:10.1017/s0022112085000684, S2CID 123563729
  35. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lamb, Kevin G. (February 1994), "Numerical simulations of stratified inviscid flow over a smooth obstacle" (PDF), Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 260 (–1): 1, Bibcode:1994JFM...260....1L, doi:10.1017/s0022112094003411, S2CID 49355530, archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2014
  36. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Benjamin, T. Brooke (September 1967), "Internal waves of permanent form in fluids of great depth", Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 29 (3): 559, Bibcode:1967JFM....29..559B, doi:10.1017/s002211206700103x, S2CID 123065419
  37. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Noonan, Julie A.; Smith, Roger K. (September 1985), "Linear and weakly nonlinear internal wave theories applied to 'morning glory' waves", Geophysical & Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, 33 (1–4): 123–143, Bibcode:1985GApFD..33..123N, doi:10.1080/03091928508245426
  38. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Phillips, Dave (12 September 2006), "Local teacher, author figures math into books", The Gazette
  39. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Radius – Witch Of Agnesi (Plutonium Records, 2002), Discogs, retrieved 28 May 2018

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