{
  "abstract": "There are two standard ways of peeling an orange: either cut the skin along meridians, or cut it along a spiral. We consider here the second method, and study the shape of the spiral strip, when unfolded on a table. We derive a formula that describes the corresponding flattened-out spiral. Cutting the peel with progressively thinner strip widths, we obtain a sequence of increasingly long spirals. We show that, after rescaling, these spirals tends to a definite shape, known as the Euler spiral. The Euler spiral has applications in many fields of science. In optics, the illumination intensity at a point behind a slit is computed from the distance between two points on the Euler spiral. The Euler spiral also provides optimal curvature for train tracks between a straight run and an upcoming bend. It is striking that it can be also obtained with an orange and a kitchen knife.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "1202.3033",
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Laurent Bartholdi"
    },
    {
      "name": "André G. Henriques"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fq48b1faz8x5p.bib",
  "cited_by": 3,
  "doi": "10.1007/s00283-012-9304-1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "fq48b1faz8x5p",
  "issns": [
    "0343-6993",
    "1866-7414"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://hal.science/hal-05849590v1",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "hal",
      "0.math"
    ],
    [
      "hal",
      "1.math.math-gm"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2608|Mathematics and Applications"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W2135117163",
  "pdf_url": "https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00283-012-9304-1.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-11-03",
  "publisher": "Springer Verlag",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fq48b1faz8x5p.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-03T12:20:18Z",
      "native_id": "hal-05849590",
      "source": "hal",
      "url": "https://hal.science/hal-05849590v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "mathematics",
      "origin": "openalex:2608|Mathematics and Applications",
      "subfield": "geometry-topology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Orange peels and Fresnel integrals",
  "title_text": "Orange peels and Fresnel integrals",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-05T12:20:12Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fq48b1faz8x5p",
  "venue": "The Mathematical Intelligencer",
  "versions": []
}