A curve that emanates from a point and moves farther away as it revolves around that point is called a spiral. A spiral is characterized by a radius that continuously increases (or decreases) as the curve winds around the central point, unlike a circle which maintains a constant radius. Spirals are a subtype of whorled patterns and can be described mathematically in polar coordinates where the radius rrr is a monotonic function of the angle θ\theta θ
. There are several well-known types of spirals, including:
- Archimedean spiral: Radius grows linearly with the angle, r=a+bθr=a+b\theta r=a+bθ.
- Logarithmic spiral: Radius grows exponentially with the angle.
- Fermat’s spiral: Radius grows proportional to the square root of the angle.
- Hyperbolic spiral: Radius inversely proportional to the angle.
All these spirals share the property of moving farther away from the center point as they revolve around it
. In summary, the curve you describe is a spiral.