"Thomas" <tho### [at] gmxnet> schrieb

> How does a trailer follow the car/truck that is pulling it through bends, is
> there some magic formula for it? All I can figure out is that the angle
> between the two is related to the length of the trailer but beyond that I'm
> a bit lost.

I don't know if the "mathematical correct" answer has already been given
(or if you have come to a solution in another way), the term for the curve
that the trailer describes following the truck (or a dog following the leash
and so on) is called "tractrix". It is a simple solution of a simple differantial
equation.

Guckst Du hier:

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Tractrix.html

HTH

Markus

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