MATH3968 Lecture 2

Dr Emma Carberry
29 July 2009

Parameterised Curves

• We can define a curve in Rn either by giving equations or by giving a parameterisation.

• We will begin with parameterised curves.

Definition 1. A parameterised smooth curve in Rn is a smooth (i.e. infinitely differentiable) map

α : I → Rn from an open interval I = (a, b) into Rn .
Note that two parameterised curves with the same trace α(I) but different parameterisations are NOT
considered to be the same.
Definition 2. Let α : I → Rn , β : I 0 → Rn be parameterised smooth curves. β is a reparameterisation
of α if there is a smooth function φ : I → I 0 with smooth inverse so that

α = β ◦ φ.

Example 3.
α : R → R3 , α(t) = (2 cos(t), 3 sin(t), t)
α : R → R3 , α(t) = (2 cos(2t), 3 sin(2t), 2t)
α : R → R2 , α(t) = (t2 , t3 )

Definition 4. α0 (t) is called the velocity vector of α at t. If α0 (t) 6= 0, then there is a unique line in Rn
that contains the point α(t) and is parallel to α0 (t); we call this the tangent line of α at t.

On Rn assume given the standard inner product, for which there are two standard notations:

v · w = hv, wi = v1 w1 + · · · vn wn

where v = (v1 , . . . , vn ), w = (w1 , . . . , wn ).

And the resulting norm, for which there are also two standard notations:
p
|v| = kvk = hv, vi.

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Definition 5. The arc-length of a parameterised smooth curve α : (a, b) → Rn after time t ∈ (a, b) is
Z t
s(t) = |α0 (t)|dt;
a

s(b) is simply called the arc-length of α.

Note that
s0 (t) = |α0 (t)|
(the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus).
A particularly nice parameterisation is when a curve is parameterised by arc-length.
The trace of the curve is then being traversed at unit speed, |α0 (s)| = 1.

Active Learning
Question 6. Can every parameterised smooth curve be reparameterised by arc-length?
i.e. Given smooth α : (a, b) → Rn , is t 7→ s(t) smooth with a smooth inverse?
Answer 7. The map t 7→ s(t) is always smooth, but it does not always have a smooth inverse. Some
counterexamples:
1.
α : (0, 1) → R3 , α(t) = (1, 2, 3),
has s(t) ≡ 0.
2.
α : R → R2 , α(t) = (t2 , t3 )
ds dt
If t 7→ s(t) has a smooth inverse, then 1 = , so s0 (t) 6= 0 for all t. But s0 (0) = 0.
dt ds
3.
α : (0, π) → R2 α(t) = (0, sin t)
has s0 π


2 = 0.
This last curve has a trace which could be smoothly parameterised by arc length, whereas the first two
do not.
Definition 8. A parameterised smooth curve α : I → Rn is regular if α0 (t) 6= 0 for all t ∈ I.
We have just seen that being regular is necessary in order that α may be reparameterised by arc-length.
Is it sufficient?
Theorem 9 (Inverse Function Theorem). • Let W ⊂ Rn be an open set, and

W → Rn
x = (x1 , . . . , xn ) 7→ (f 1 (x), . . . , f n (x))

be a smooth map. Suppose that at a = (a1 , . . . , an ) ∈ W ,

 1
f1 (a) f21 (a) · · · fn1 (a)

 f12 (a) f22 (a) · · · fn2 (a) 
Df (a) := 
 
.. .. .. .. 
 . . . . 
f1n (a) f2n (a) · · · fnn (a)

∂f i
is invertible, where fji = ∂xj .

• Then there are open neighbourhoods U of a and V of b = f (a) so that f |U : U → V is invertible

with smooth inverse f −1 .
In particular, what does this say for s : (a, b) → (c, d)?
It tells us that a regular curve can be reparameterised by arc length.
However, just as we often cannot explicitly anti-differentiate a given function, we will often not be
able to carry out the reparameterisation by arc-length explicitly.

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Example 10.

α: R → R2
t 7→ (a cos t, b sin t), a, b > 0

Finding the arc length of an ellipse can be done using elliptic functions, which you may learn about in a
Riemann surfaces class.

• Let α : (a, b) → Rn be a regular smooth curve, parameterised by arc-length s.

• Note that
|α0 (s)| = 1;
parameterisation by arc-length means that one is travelling at unit speed.
• So α0 (s) is the unit length tangent vector to α at s.
• We will write t(s) = α0 (s).

• Write
α00 (s) =: k(s)n(s),
where
α00 (s)
k(s) = |α00 (s)|, n(s) =
|α00 (s)|

• n(s) is defined only if k(s) 6= 0; we shall restrict ourselves to this (generic) situation
• Then k(s) is the magnitude of the rate of change of the unit tangent vector t at s, and we call it
the curvature of α at s.
• The function k is called the curvature of α.

Since α0 (s) has constant length, it and its derivative are orthogonal.

α00 (s)

α0 (s)

t · t = constant
t · t + t · t0 = 0
0

t0 · t = 0

ie t and n are orthogonal, t · n = 0.

Definition 11. If n(s) 6= 0, then the plane spanned by t(s) and n(s) is called the osculating plane of α
at s.
Example 12.
α(u) = (a1 , . . . , an )u + (b1 , . . . , bn )
(if unspecified, assume the domain of definition is R).

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t(u) ≡ p (a1 , . . . , an ), k ≡ 0, n not defined
a21 + · · · + a2n

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Example 13.
α(u) = (r cos(u), r sin(u))
α

α0 (u) = (−r sin(u), r cos(u))

t(u) = (− sin(u), cos(u)).

To compute n and the curvature, either

1. we parameterise α in terms of arc-length, α(s) = r cos( rs ), r sin( rs ) ; or

2. use the chain rule to compute α00 (s) without computing s.

Example 13 (continued).

α0 (u) = (−r sin(u), r cos(u))

ds
= |α0 (u)| = r
du
du 1
=
ds r
t(u) = (− sin(u), cos(u))

hence
dt dt du
=
ds du ds
1
= (− cos(u), − sin(u)),
r
so
1
n(u) = −(cos(u), sin(u)), k(u) = .
r
Helix

Circle

Question 14.
How should the curvatures of a circle and a helix with the same radius compare?
Answer 15. The curvature of the helix should be less. The fact that it is stretched vertically means
that there is less turning per unit length.
A parameterisation by arc-length is
     
s s as
α(s) = r cos √ , r sin √ ,√
r2 + a2 r2 + a2 r2 + a2
and
     
1 s s
t(s) = √ −r sin √ , r cos √ ,a ,
r2 + a2 r2 + a2 r2 + a2
     
s s
n(s) = − cos √ , sin √ ,0 ,
2
r +a 2 r + a2
2
r
k(s) = 2
r + a2

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 n

Answer 15 (continued).

For curves in the plane, R2 , curvature can be given a sign.

Instead of choosing a unit normal n0 (s) pointing in the direction of α00 (s), we choose it so that the
e2
basis (t, n0 ) of R2 has the same orientation as the standard basis (e1 , e2 ). e1

(t, n0 ) = A(e1 , e2 ),

det (A) > 0; in fact A ∈ SO(2).

• O(n) = {n × n matrices A with AAt = I, At A = I}; elements are called orthogonal; they preserve
the standard inner product.
• SO(n) = {A ∈ O(n)| det(A) = 1}; elements are called special orthogonal; they preserve the stan-
dard inner product and orientation.
  
cos θ − sin θ 
• SO(2) = θ ∈ R .
sin θ cos θ 

n0 (s) agrees with the old definition except possibly by a sign.

Definition 16. The signed curvature k0 (s) is given by

α00 (s) =: k0 (s)n0 (s)

n0 n0

e2 1
curvature = radius

e1