Reuleaux triangle and friends

A Reuleaux triangle is a shape of constant width based on an equilateral triangle.

Description

A Reuleaux triangle is a shape of constant width based on an equilateral triangle. Its not actually a triangle, but it has some interesting properties. Formost, constant width means that in principle it would make just as good a cross-section for a roller as a circle (though not for a wheel).

There are many other shapes with constant width, and this code allows you to generate
   - extended Reuleaux triangles
   - Reuleaux polygons

The code also comes with a couple of scripts for manipulating them. The most obvious allows you to see what happens when it is rolled. The second shows how a Reuleaux triangle can be used as a cross section to drill almost square holes.

There are lots of comments, and references in the code, and a test script to show you how to call the functions.

• MATLAB release: MATLAB 7.5 (R2007b)