An Interesting Property of Rotational Kinematics

To fly between two locations a variety of routes are possible.

Route A is shorter than B.

These "flights" can also be considered as rotations.

Rotation A' (~90 deg) is shorter than B' (~180 deg).

In the same way, the eye can rotate between two points in a variety of ways.

Some are better than others.


Copyright © 1996 Tutis Vilis and Douglas Tweed
University of Western Ontario
London Ontario Canada
Updated October 28, 2005

Comments welcome. Email to tutis.vilis@schulich.uwo.ca