1.4.4 The Unit Normal
Earlier in this lesson we introduced a new vector, the unit tangent , which has given us information about the image curve of a path. There is a second useful vector called the unit normal vector, defined as follows:
In other words, the unit normal vector to a path is the unit tangent to the unit tangent to .
Experiment with the applet below. Make some observations about the behavior of the unit normal vector.