Brachistochrone Construction

Here one can see a graph of the brachistochrone for the given endpoint. For this, JAVA-applets must be supported.

Choose the desired endpoint inside the black area, aim the mouse cursor at this point and click the mouse button.

JAVA not supported!

Cycloid - optimal solution of the brachistochrone problem - arc of cycloid

Straight Line - straight line between startpoint and endpoint

Broken Line 1 - optimal solution in the class of two-link piecewise lines with fixed x-coordinate of breakpoint (x₁/2)

Broken Line 2 - optimal solution in the class of two-link piecewise lines with free breakpoint (two-parametric family)

For start of the animation - press A-key

For selection of the initial velocity use right scrollbar