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Spirographs

Math Art
Geometry
Parametric Curves
Roll one circle around another and trace the curve a pen draws.
Author

Apurva Nakade

Published

September 23, 2026

Suppose you roll a circle of radius 1 around the inside of a circle of radius 2, and follow a single point on the smaller circle. What path does that point trace? Think of an answer before looking below. You might be surprised.

A circle of radius 1 rolling inside a circle of radius 2, with one point on the small circle marked and an arrow showing the direction of rolling.

A circle of radius \(r\) rolls without slipping inside (a hypotrochoid) or outside (an epitrochoid) a fixed circle of radius \(R\), and a pen at distance \(d\) from its center traces the curve. Let \(t\) be the angle of the rolling circle’s center, and put \[ a = R \mp r, \qquad k = \frac{a}{r}, \qquad m = \frac{R}{r}, \] with the upper sign for inside and the lower for outside throughout.

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