The tensions in the successive portions of the string are therefore proportional to the respective lengths, and the lines BH, CK ... are all equal. Hence AD, BC are parallel and are bisected by the same vertical line; and a parabola with vertical axis can therefore be described through A, B, C, D. The same holds for the four points B, C, D, E and so on; but since a parabola is uniquely determined by the direction of its axis and by three points on the curve, the successive parabolas ABCD, BCDE, CDEF ... must be coincident. § 3. _Plane Kinematics of a Rigid Body._--The ideal _rigid body_ is one in which the distance between any two points is invariable. For the present we confine ourselves to the consideration of displacements in two dimensions, so that the body is adequately represented by a thin lamina or plate. [Illustration: FIG. 9.] The position of a lamina movable in its own plane is determinate when we know the positions of any two points A, B of it. Since the four co-ordinates (Cartesian or other) of these two points are connected by the relation which expresses the invariability of the length AB, it is plain that virtually three independent elements are required and suffice to specify the position of the lamina. For instance, the lamina may in general be fixed by connecting any three points of it by rigid links to three fixed points in its plane. The three independent elements may be chosen in a variety of ways (e.g. they may be the lengths of the three links in the above example). They may be called (in a generalized sense) the _co-ordinates_ of the lamina. The lamina when perfectly free to move in its own plane is said to have _three degrees of freedom_. [Illustration: FIG. 10.] By a theorem due to M. Chasles any displacement whatever of the lamina in its own plane is equivalent to a rotation about some finite or infinitely distant point J. For suppose that in consequence of the displacement a point of the lamina is brought from A to B, whilst the point of the lamina which was originally at B is brought to C. Since AB, BC, are two different positions of the same line in the lamina they are equal, and it is evident that the rotation could have been effected by a rotation about J, the centre of the circle ABC, through an angle AJB. As a special case the three points A, B, C may be in a straight line; J is then at infinity and the displacement is equivalent to a pure _translation_, since every point of the lamina is now displaced parallel to AB through a space equal to AB. [Illustration: FIG. 11.]