English

Specular reflection on the surface of a sphere: compass and ruler constructions

History and Overview 2017-03-21 v1

Abstract

We provide an explicit geometric algorithm involving only ruler and compass constructions in order to specify the specular reflection point on the surface of a reflecting sphere of radius rr given two focal points AA and BB lying outside of it. By numerically implementing the algorithm we compute the point in question for a number of cases. We conclude by discussing how the first iteration of the algorithm constitutes a first order approximation to the real solution by providing a closed expression for it as well as the error involved in doing so, as a function of the distances of the two focal points from the origin and the angle formed between them.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1703.06768,
  title  = {Specular reflection on the surface of a sphere: compass and ruler constructions},
  author = {Nikolaos K. Kollas},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1703.06768},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

9 pages, 9 figures