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Regular Curves Arc Length

1. The document describes several parametrized curves and their properties, including the cycloid, cissoid of Diocles, and tractrix. Exercises are provided to explore properties of these curves, such as determining their singular points and computing arc lengths.

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56 views2 pages

Regular Curves Arc Length

1. The document describes several parametrized curves and their properties, including the cycloid, cissoid of Diocles, and tractrix. Exercises are provided to explore properties of these curves, such as determining their singular points and computing arc lengths.

Uploaded by

melquisbert0
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1-3.

Regular Curves; Arc Length 7

arc length s, since most concepts are defined only in terms of the derivatives
of α(s).
It is convenient to set still another convention. Given the curve α
parametrized by arc length s ∈ (a, b), we may consider the curve β defined
in (−b, −a) by β(−s) = α(s), which has the same trace as the first one but is
described in the opposite direction. We say, then, that these two curves differ
by a change of orientation.

EXERCISES

1. Show that the tangent lines to the regular parametrized curve α(t) =
(3t, 3t 2 , 2t 3 ) make a constant angle with the line y = 0, z = x.
2. A circular disk of radius 1 in the plane xy rolls without slipping along the
x axis. The figure described by a point of the circumference of the disk
is called a cycloid (Fig. 1-7).
y

l
t
0
x

Figure 1-7. The cycloid.

*a. Obtain a parametrized curve α: R → R 2 the trace of which is the


cycloid, and determine its singular points.
b. Compute the arc length of the cycloid corresponding to a complete
rotation of the disk.
3. Let 0A = 2a be the diameter of a circle S 1 and 0y and AV be the tangents
to S 1 at 0 and A, respectively. A half-line r is drawn from 0 which meets
the circle S 1 at C and the line AV at B. On 0B mark off the segment
0p = CB. If we rotate r about 0, the point p will describe a curve called
the cissoid of Diocles. By taking 0A as the x axis and 0Y as the y axis,
prove that
a. The trace of
2at 2 2at 3
 
α(t) = , , t ∈ R,
1 + t2 1 + t2
is the cissoid of Diocles (t = tan θ ; see Fig. 1-8).
8 1. Curves

b. The origin (0, 0) is a singular point of the cissoid.


c. As t → ∞, α(t) approaches the line x = 2a, and α ′ (t) → 0, 2a.
Thus, as t → ∞, the curve and its tangent approach the line x = 2a;
we say that x = 2a is an asymptote to the cissoid.
4. Let α: (0, π) → R 2 be given by
 
t
α(t) = sin t, cos t + log tan ,
2
where t is the angle that the y axis makes with the vector α ′ (t). The trace
of α is called the tractrix (Fig. 1-9). Show that

y V
y

B
t

C l
p

θ
0 x
2a A l
t

α(t)
S1
x
0 l

Figure 1-8. The cissoid of Diocles. Figure 1-9. The tractrix.

a. α is a differentiable parametrized curve, regular except at t = π/2.


b. The length of the segment of the tangent of the tractrix between the
point of tangency and the y axis is constantly equal to 1.
5. Let α: (−1, +∞) → R 2 be given by
3at 3at 2
 
α(t) = , .
1 + t3 1 + t3

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