radius of curvature

n (Mathematics) the absolute value of the reciprocal of the curvature of a curve at a given point; the radius of a circle the curvature of which is equal to that of the given curve at that point. See also centre of curvature

Thesaurus

Noun

radius of curvature - the radius of the circle of curvature; the absolute value of the reciprocal of the curvature of a curve at a given pointradius, r - the length of a line segment between the center and circumference of a circle or sphere

radius of curvature

(ray -dee-us) Symbol: r , R . The radius of the sphere whose surface contains the surface of a spherical mirror, lens, or wavefront. The curvature of the mirror, etc., is given by the reciprocal of the radius of curvature, i.e. by 1/r . The radius of curvature of a mirror is twice its focal length, f . That of a lens is given by 1/f = (n – 1)(1/r ₁ – 1/r ₂ ) where n is the refractive index; it is assumed that, in the direction of light travel, the radii, r ₁ and r ₂, for the convex and concave lens surfaces are positive and negative, respectively.