183.--DRAWING A SPIRAL.

From Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney.

If you hold the page horizontally and give it a quick rotary motion while looking at the centre of the spiral, it will appear to revolve. Perhaps a good many readers are acquainted with this little optical illusion. But the puzzle is to show how I was able to draw this spiral with so much exactitude without using anything but a pair of compasses and the sheet of paper on which the diagram was made. How would you proceed in such circumstances?

[Illustration]

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183.--DRAWING A SPIRAL.: Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney | amphi