Exercise · ZW-CURVE-AND-CONTOUR-007 · ★★☆ Intermediate
How many smooth curves make up the contour tracing the boundary of a triangle?
Choose one option.
A One, because the boundary is closed B Two, the base and the other sides C Infinitely many, one for each point D Three, one for each side
Show answer D. Three, one for each side
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Explanation At each vertex the direction changes abruptly, so the derivative is not continuous there. Each side is a smooth curve and the boundary is the contour joining the three.
A smooth curve \(\gamma\) is a function from a real interval \([a,b]\) into \(\mathbb{C}\) with continuous, nonzero derivative ; a contour is a finite chain of smooth curves joined end to end.
\[\gamma(t)=x(t)+i\,y(t),\qquad a\le t\le b\]
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