A mathematical curve traced by a point on a circle rolling around the outside of another circle, similar to an epicycloid.
From Greek 'exo-' (outside), 'kyklos' (circle), and '-oid' (resembling). This mathematical term developed in the 17th-18th centuries when mathematicians studied rolling circles and the curves they generate.
Epicycloids and exocycloids appear everywhere in nature—the petals of flowers, the paths of orbiting planets, and even spirograph drawings all trace these mathematical curves that seem complicated but follow simple rolling rules.
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