§2.5 - Level Curves of Surfaces

by Robert Curtis, Bill Davis, and Lee Wayand.

Lifting the Level Curves

Level curves are usually presented in a 2D plane, and usually in the x-y plane for a surface in an x-y-z coordinate system.

The level curves in the 2D plane have numbers associated with each member curve of the set the tells you the height of that level curve.

This animation demonstrates how you may teach your brain to think of level curves: in your mind raise or lower them to the height described on the curve itself.

It is from this kind of imagination technique that level curves are used as a quick, and sometimes more useful representation of the surface than is a 3D drawing.

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Core Development Team
  • Robert R. Curtis
  • Phil R. Smith
  • Christopher A. Barker
  • Diane Welden Housken
  • Tim Lance
  • Bob Stein
  • Donald Hartig
  • Lee Wayand
  • Charlene Beckmann
  • Bill Davis
  • Paul Latiolais
  • Dennis Sentilles
  • Carmen Artino
  • Michael Colvin


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