Variations on the Tait-Kneser theorem

Abstract

The classical Tait-Kneser theorem states that the osculating circles of a smooth plane curve, free from curvature extrema, are pairwise disjoint. We prove a number of analogs of this theorem, e.g., for ovals of osculating cubics, osculating polynomials and trigonometric polynomials; in each case, we will obtain a non-differentiable foliation with smooth leaves.

14 pages, 6 figures, v2: references added