centre of mass of polygon
Let A1A2…An be an n-gon (http://planetmath.org/Polygon) which is supposed to have a surface-density in all of its points, M the centre of mass of the polygon and O the origin. Then the position vector of M with respect to O is
→OM=1nn∑i=1→OAi. | (1) |
We can of course take especially O=A1, and thus
→A1M=1nn∑i=1→A1Ai=1nn∑i=2→A1Ai. |
In the special case of the triangle ABC we have
→AM=13(→AB+→AC). | (2) |
The centre of mass of a triangle is the common point of its medians.
Remark. An analogical result with (2) concerns also the tetrahedron ABCD,
→AM=14(→AB+→AC+→AD), |
and any n-dimensional simplex (cf. the midpoint (http://planetmath.org/Midpoint) of line segment
: →AM=12→AB).
Title | centre of mass of polygon |
Canonical name | CentreOfMassOfPolygon |
Date of creation | 2013-03-22 17:33:13 |
Last modified on | 2013-03-22 17:33:13 |
Owner | pahio (2872) |
Last modified by | pahio (2872) |
Numerical id | 11 |
Author | pahio (2872) |
Entry type | Result |
Classification | msc 51P05 |
Classification | msc 51M04 |
Classification | msc 26B15 |
Classification | msc 15A72 |
Synonym | centroid of polygon |
Related topic | ArithmeticMean |
Related topic | AreaOfPolygon |
Related topic | CentreOfMassOfHalfDisc |
Related topic | BarycentricSubdivision |
Related topic | CoordinatesOfMidpoint |