rereading your post... I think you have it.

It is the simple hanging weight of the string to a point 8 inches below the
base line.

tim (life is way too complicated, now you know why)

>From: Aristotle Sagan <killer_jupiter@HOTMAIL.COM>
>Reply-To: Aristotle Sagan <killer_jupiter@HOTMAIL.COM>
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Re: Curves (no Vanagon content)
>Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 11:53:27 -0800
>
>Right idea, sort of, wrong implementation.
>Take the string:
>1.) tie one end to the nail
>2.) tie the other nail to a point on the string exactly 22 inches away
>3.) pound the nails in 15.099 (to be somewhat precise) inches apart on the
>base line you are going to draw upon.
>4.) keeping the pencil perfectly vertical hooked into the string, start on
>the base line outside the nail point with the string pulled taught. going
>up
>the string will give you the curve I think you need.
>
>How you get this is...
>
>the string length is the width of the bowl. (22 inches)
>the max deflection is 8 inches.
>
>it's a triangle.  8 inches high, the hypotenuse is 11 inches so the base
>needs to be...
>
>sqrt ( sq(hypotenuse)- sq( height)) == 121-64 = 57
>
>sqrt of 57 = 7.5498344352707~
>
>times 2 gives you the distance between nails = 15.0996688~
>
>
>tim in san jose
>
>for my next trick, figuring the area under the curve...
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>>From: Kim Brennan <kimbrennan@MAC.COM>
>>Reply-To: Kim Brennan <kimbrennan@MAC.COM>
>>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>>Subject: Re: Curves (no Vanagon content)
>>Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 14:02:08 -0500
>>
>>I believe what you do is put the pins 22" apart (and level). Tie one
>>end of the string to one of the pins. Run the string over to the other
>>pin, and adjust the length until the hanging section is 8" deep. Tie up
>>the string at that point. The path that the string takes is a natural
>>hyperbolic, I believe.
>>
>>On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 01:37  PM, John Rodgers wrote:
>>
>>>I need your help.
>>>
>>>I need to draw a hyperbolic curve as a line drawing that will look like
>>>a bowl. It has specific dimensions of 22" wide by 8 " deep. The curve
>>>must be true for the dimensions. There is a way to do this with string,
>>>pins, pencil, straight edge and triangle, but I don't know how. Can
>>>anyone tell me how do do this???
>
>
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