Introduction

An algebraic solution was given in [1] for the problem of fitting a circle to three-dimensional data
points not lying in the -plane. In [2], this solution is crafted as a Matlab project whose steps we
articulate in Table 1.
1.

Translate all
will pass through (or nearly through) the origin.

2.

U from the singular-value decomposition of

matrix whose columns are
vectors from the origin to the translated points.

3.

The first two columns in

4.

The third column in

5.

matrix
are the components of the vectors
with respect to the basis vectors
. Since n
the entries in the third row of are small.

are

is

6.
each column of

as

, a point in an

-plane.

Table 1 Essential steps in an algebraic solution to the problem of fitting a circle in space
to 3-D data
We will implement the algebraic solution in Maple, then provide an alternate analytic solution based
on the direct minimization of the sum of squares of deviations. The analytic technique, suggested by
[3], simultaneously fists a plane to the data, while finding the radius of the circle by minimizing the
sum of squares of deviations of each point from a line parallel to the normal to the fitting plane.

Initializations
Load packages and define initial data by clicking on the icon below.

Algebraic Solution
Each of the ten columns of the following matrix are the Cartesian coordinates of data points taken
from [2].

To each data point, we add random noise of magnitude less than 1.5. The perturbations for each
coordinate are in the matrix

so that the noisy data are contained in the matrix

The coordinates of the centroid of these points appear as the components of the following vector.

The coordinates of the centroid is subtracted from each point; the columns of the resulting matrix

are vectors ,

, from the origin to each of the translated points.

The singular value decomposition of this matrix provides the factor and the vector S of singular
values. The matrix contains orthonormal bases for the column space of and for its orthogonal
complement.

The third component of

the magnitude of the noise in the data increases, this third singular value gets larger. Hence, the
algebraic approach advocated in [1] is less robust than the analytic approach sketched in the next
section.
If the translated points lie on a plane through the origin, the column space of

will be two-

comprise the orthonormal basis

namely,

is
That

is an orthogonal matrix is verified by the calculation

The columns of the product

, implemented in Maple via

that is,

are the components of the along

and n. Thus, the first two rows of are taken as - and coordinates of points in an -plane spanned by and
In this plane, a least-squares fit of a circle
to the
pairs represented by these rows is effected by writing

in the form
where

(as suggested in [2]). This strategy leads to the column vectors

and to the matrix A and vector b

forming the system Ac = b.

The least-squares solution for c is then

Consequently, in the translated and tilted plane, the fitting circle has

for the radius and center, respectively. Again, note that the center is in coordinates relative to the
orthonormal basis
. The coordinates of this center, in the space of the original data, are then

In the presence of noise, the third row in the matrix does not represent a zero component along the
normal to the plane spanned by
Thus, an essential condition for the validity of the algebraic
solution is not met. The theory requires that the data lie in a plane for the algebraic method illustrated
here to be applicable. Yet, as we will see, the algebraic solution is close to the analytical solution
obtained below.

Analytic Solution
An analytic solution of the problem of fitting a circle to points in three-dimensions begins with the
following definitions.

Set equal to zero, the first expression defines the plane through the point
i+

j+

and having

for its normal of length one. The second expression is the distance of the point
to the line
parallel to the normal, and passing through
. Figure 1, using concepts from multivariate
calculus, is a basis for obtaining this function.
When the point
is projected onto the line whose
direction is given by the unit vector , a right triangle is

formed. Elementary trigonometry gives

n
so
therefore can write

. Because

has length one, we

The desired result follows from

X KC
q
Figure 1 Distance from the
point
to the line with
direction

The noisy data are stored in the matrix

=

To obtain an estimate of where the center of the sphere might lie, we form lists of -, -, and coordinates

then compute the average of the extreme values for each coordinate.

5.184000000
5.612000000

The sum of squares of the deviations of the data points from both the plane and the line is given by

and the minimum of this sum is given by

6.740205892
where we constrain the normal vector to have unit length. Thus, the center and radius of the sphere
are

while the normal to the plane containing the fitting circle is

The equation of the plane containing the fitting circle is then

Figure 2 shows this plane, the data points, and the computed center.
Click the icon below to generate Figure 2.

Figure 2 The data points, the computed center,

and the least-squares plane containing the data
points
Obtaining a graph of the fitting circle requires considerably more work.
In a spherical coordinate system centered at

, and defined by

the equation of the plane containing the analytically-found circle becomes

from which we obtain

as

To get a four-quadrant version of this result, write

which specializes to

The parametric representation of the circle in space is then

Figure 3 shows the fitted points, the fitting circle, the plane in which this circle lies, and the center of
the fitting circle.
Click the icon below to generate Figure 3.

Figure 3 The least-squares circle and the

noisy data to which it has been fit.

References
[1]

Carl C. Cowen, "A Project on Circles in Space." In Resources for Teaching Linear Algebra.
Edited by David Carlson, Charles R. Johnson, David Lay, A. Duane Porter, Ann Watkins,
and William Watkins. Washington, D.C.: MAA, 1996.

[2]

ATLAST: Computer Exercises for Linear Algebra, Steven Leon, Eugene Herman, Richard
Faulkenberry, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1996.

[3]

Craig M. Shakarji, "Least-Squares Fitting Algorithms of the NIST Algorithm Testing

System," Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and T2chnology, Volume
103, Number 6, November-December 1998

Legal Notice: Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc. 2010. Maplesoft and Maple are
trademarks of Waterloo Maple Inc. This application may contain errors and Maplesoft is not liable for
any damages resulting from the use of this material. This application is intended for non-commercial,
non-profit use only. Contact Maplesoft for permission if you wish to use this application in for-profit
activities.