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DX P (T+DT) - P (T) P

The document discusses calculating arc length for a particle moving in a plane. It defines arc length as the integral of the infinitesimal contributions to length from each time step, given by the square root of the sum of the squares of the derivatives of the position functions p(t) and q(t) with respect to time, integrated over the time interval. It provides examples of calculating arc length for various curves defined parametrically by p(t) and q(t).

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29 views4 pages

DX P (T+DT) - P (T) P

The document discusses calculating arc length for a particle moving in a plane. It defines arc length as the integral of the infinitesimal contributions to length from each time step, given by the square root of the sum of the squares of the derivatives of the position functions p(t) and q(t) with respect to time, integrated over the time interval. It provides examples of calculating arc length for various curves defined parametrically by p(t) and q(t).

Uploaded by

masyuki1979
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Please remind me to return midterms, etc.

Section 7.4: Arc length

Consider a particle moving in the plane whose position at time t is (p(t), q(t)), for t between a and b, where p and q are both differentiable functions.

How far does the particle travel?

The infinitesimal contribution to the length from time t to time t+dt [draw picture] is the hypotenuse of a triangle whose (infinitesimal) horizontal leg is dx = p(t+dt) p(t) = p (t) dt, whose (infinitesimal) vertical leg is dy = q(t+dt) q(t) = q (t) dt, and whose (infinitesimal) hypotenuse is therefore sqrt((dx)2+(dy)2) = sqrt([p (t) dt]2+[q (t) dt]2) = sqrt([p (t)]2+[q (t)]2) dt so the total length is

(*)

L=

sqrt([p (t)]2+[q (t)]2) dt

Example: p(t) = cos t, q(t) = sin t, with 0 t /2. The path travelled by the particle is the quarter-circular arc of radius 1 centered at (0,0) (in the first quadrant). Length = = =
0 0 0

/2

sqrt((sin t)2 + (cos t)2) dt sqrt(sin2 t + cos2 t) dt 1 dt

/2 /2

= /2. Special case: p(t) = t and q(t) = f(t), so the path of the particle whose position (x,y) at time t is (p(t),q(t)) is just the graph of the curve y = f(x). Then p (t) = 1 and q (t) = f (t), so our formula (**) says that the length is

ab sqrt([1]2+[f (t)]2) dt = ab sqrt([1]2+[f (x)]2) dx ,


which is Stewarts formula (3) for the length of a curve .

Another special case: p(t) = g(t) and q(t) = t, so the path of the particle whose position (x, y) at time t is (p(t), q(t)) is

just the graph of the curve x = g(y). Then p (t) = g (t) and q (t) = 1, so our formula (**) says that the length is

ab sqrt([g (t)]2+[1]2) dt = ab sqrt([g (y)]2+[1]2) dy ,


which is Stewarts formula (4).

Suppose f(t) is defined for all t in some closed interval I, so that the points (t, f(t)) (for t in I) trace out a parametrized curve. Suppose that a belongs to I. Define (**) s(x) =
a x

sqrt([f (t)]2+1) dt

(the arc-length function) for all x belonging to I; Note that s(x) is negative when x < a (since the integrand is positive; this is one of those backward integrals where the upper limit of integration is less than the lower limit of integration!). Then:

The length of the curve from t=t1 to t=t2

(with t1 t2) is equal to s(t1) s(t2). This is easy to see in the case where a t1 t2, but its also not hard to prove in the other cases as well. For instance, if t1 < a < t2, then s(t2) equals the arc-length from t=a to t=t2, while s(t1) equals the negative of the arclength from t=a to t=t1, so that subtracting the latter from the former gives the sum of the arc-length from t=a to t=t2 and the arc-length from t=a to t=t1.

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