Talk:Tri-oval

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number of turns

While an oval has four turns, a tri-oval has an "extra" fifth turn.

What does 'turn' mean in this sentence? I don't see five of anything in the illustration; nor do I see four discrete 'turns' in an oval. —Tamfang (talk) 23:57, 10 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Unsure about why 5, but I imagine if the curve is represented by straight segments and circle arc, a driver "turns" to the new curvature, so each "corner" would seem to be 2 turns "sharp turn" (small radius), holding, and then "turning" back straight again. So it makes sense an oval is "2 sharp turns" needing four transitions, while a tri0oval by logic would have 6 "turns", two on each corner. I imagine "5" might come because one of the "less sharp" corners is smooth enough that it feels like one movement, rather than 2 distinct motions? Tom Ruen (talk) 02:17, 11 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Like how a curve of constant width based on a scalene triangle [1] can have five segments, heh. —Tamfang (talk) 20:20, 12 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]