Determination of the position vectors of general helices from intrinsic equations in $\e^3$

Abstract

In this paper, we prove that the position vector of every space curve satisfies a vector differential equation of fourth order. Also, we determine the parametric representation of the position vector $\psi=\Big(\psi_1,\psi_2,\psi_3\Big)$ of general helices from the intrinsic equations $\kappa=\kappa(s)$ and $\tau=\tau(s)$ where $\kappa$ and $\tau$ are the curvature and torsion of the space curve $\psi$, respectively. Our result extends some knwown results. Moreover, we give four examples to illustrate how to find the position vector from the intrinsic equations of general helices.