'Curve of quickest descent' definitions:

Definition of 'Curve of quickest descent'

From: GCIDE

Curve \Curve\, n. [See Curve, a., Cirb.]
1. A bending without angles; that which is bent; a flexure; as, a curve in a railway or canal. [1913 Webster]
2. (Geom.) A line described according to some low, and having no finite portion of it a straight line. [1913 Webster]
Axis of a curve. See under Axis.
Curve of quickest descent. See Brachystochrone.
Curve tracing (Math.), the process of determining the shape, location, singular points, and other peculiarities of a curve from its equation.
Plane curve (Geom.), a curve such that when a plane passes through three points of the curve, it passes through all the other points of the curve. Any other curve is called a curve of double curvature, or a twisted curve. [1913 Webster]