‘Math, Seiemist 35, 122-131 2010) Printed in England © Applied Probability Trast 2010 THE PERIMETER OF AN ELLIPSE, ‘TIRUPATHI R, CHANDRUPATLA * AND ‘THOMAS J. OSLER," Rowan University Abstract There is no simple way to calculate the perimeter of an ellipse. In this expository paper \we review and compare four methods of evaluating this perimeter. These methods are ‘known by the names Maclaurn, Gauss-Kummer, Cayley, and Euler. Maclaurin’s method is derived in detail, while the other three are simply described. A short introduction to hypergeometric funetions is included, sine these functions are useful for finding the elliptic perimeter. We compare the usefulness of these four calculations, An appendix ives MICROSOFT EXCEL” programs for computing the perimeter. ‘Keywords: Perimeter of ellipse; hypergeometsic functions 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary 51-03, Secondary 33C20 1. Introduction ‘The area ofthe ellipse is given by the formula A = sab. We recognize this asa simple generalization of the formula for the area of a circle of radius a given by A = ra. What can we say about the perimeter Of this ellipse? The cirele of radius @ has circumference C = 27ra, so is the perimeter of the ellipse something simple like P = 2ar(a +b)/2, where we have used the average of a and b in place of the radius of the circle? The answer is no. Unfortunately, there is no simple way to express the perimeter of the ellipse in terms of clementary functions of a and b. To express this perimeter we need to expand our too! kit ‘of functions beyond the trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions studied in the calculus. We shall require ‘special functions’ such as the gamma function, the elliptic Functor tnd the hypergeometric functions, just to name a few. In this paper we will take a quick look at ‘complete elliptic integrals’ and “hypergeometric functions’ in our quest to calculate the perimeter of the ellipse. In Sections 2 and 3 we will discuss in detail one method of calculating the perimeter known, asthe Maclaurin expansion (se [5}) 1-3\7e4 1-3+5\75 (FA) 5-(S43) $ Reid 27 Febeuary 2010: eis recive 1 Mach 2010, * Postal address: Mechanical Engineering Depatncat, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA. ai adress: handrupatla@rowan ea Postal aes: Deparment of Matbematies, Rowan University Glasbor, NB 08028, USA, Email adres osertrowan eda m2‘The perimeter ofan ellipse 1s where A2 = 1 b2/a?, This result will also be expressed in terms of elliptic integrals ‘and hypergeomettic functions in Section 4, In Sections $ and 6 we take a quick look at some properties of hypergeometric functions, and in Section 7 we introduce three additional formulas for finding the perimeter of an ellipse without giving their derivation. In Section 8 we use the results of computer calculations to compare the four formulas discussed in the paper. Appendix A gives MICROSOFT EXCEL programs for computing the perimeter. 2. The perimeter and elliptic integrals ‘The iferetial are length fora curve given by parametric equations x = x(0) an is _ ay, (oy w= (4) 4 (% \() +() # ‘The elise given by the parametric equations = a cos® and y = bsind has diferent ac length ds = Casino? + (eos 8 ue. ‘Therefore, the perimeter of the ellipse is given by the integral a + 4 Vatsin® +6 cos? 0 v0, lo yO) F in which we have quadrupled the are length found in the first quadrant. Replacing sin? @ by 1 cos? # we get pa a [Ve ont) + coro hn a2 a4 [VERE Tet. a Itwe ket BR 2 Ba1-3. 2 wwe can write (1) as, 2/2 Pa4af V1 Peo ouo. oy lo Since cos = sin(xr/2 — 6), for any function f(x) we can write [°° roman = [°° (so -0)) ‘With the substitution 1 = 21/2 — @ we convert this to f *° peeooyae = [" foinna. ‘Therefore, we can replace the cosine in (3) by asi a Pate [vi lb14 LR. CHANDRUPATLA AND T. J. OSLER ‘The reason for this conversion is o express the perimeter in terms of the named funetion ew =f “VIB sin? 00, a which is called a complete elliptic integral of the second kind. ‘Thus we can now write P=4aEW) ‘The complete elliptic integral of the frst kind defined by the integral ra fa I sin? ‘occurs in the analysis of the motion of the pendulum with large amplitude (7, pp. 331-335). 3. Maclaurin series expansion for the perimeter Unfortunately we cannot express the elliptic integral (4) in terms of elementary functions. ‘To assist in the integration of (4), we begin by expanding the square root in the integrand using the binomial theorem. We have vi daa? 6) ewe, XG (?) pp-lp-2_ p-jtl —- is valid for j= 1,2,3, ..., while (2) = 1. Thus, for j = 1,2.3,..., we have ad td, We can rewrite this as en( Returning to (5) we ean now write 4 vier=1-yh 2 i ‘The complete elliptic integral (4) can be written as Lda rc)The perimeter ofan ellipse 125 Integrating term by term we have x oil ew =2-So1! 5... M3 ("stow © 8 i ‘0 We will make use of the known definite integral (available from software such as MATH EMATICA® or standard mathematical tables) to rewrite (6) as xf, Syri3s 2-3 wm PEG ae ‘This last relation is the Maclaurin series expansion for the complete ell -G)T-)5- Ga) 4, Hypergeometric functions and the perimeter We can also express the perimeter ofthe ellipse in terms of hypergeometric functions which axe defined by Fla piv) = m= P55 he OE i ‘where we have used the Poehhammer symbol (@j =a + Da +2)--(a+ j-D. Rearranging (7) 20 = 3[4 \we rewrite the first factor in the sum in (8) as 2 =!) 2) Ye, @ 1 %126 LR, CHANDRUPATLA AND T. J. OSLER “The second factor inthe sum in (8) can also be expressed in terms of Pochhammer symbols as (10) eo =r ne), a ee (aula pasate) =2ane(-4.dsu) ‘5, Hypergeometric function identities Inthis section we summarize some facts concerning the important hypergeometric Functions ‘without giving their derivations. ‘The hypergeometsic function y = F(a, B: 7:2) i the solution ofthe differential equation 2 = 2)" + ly —(@ +A Daly’ ~apy =0. ‘The following elementary functions can be expressed in tems of hypergeometsc functions ba? = FO x32 = ( sy ke). Ind +2) = xF(, 1:2; =»), »(3) 1-2), ‘We have shown thatthe complete elliptic integral of the second kind can be expressed in terms of the hypergeometric function (11), and we can also express the complete elliptic integral of the first kind as Pay =Se(5. 540)The perimeter ofan ellipse ray ‘The following are known transformations for the hypergeometric function: #(2.0:26: 5) cy oA («a bth 2), (2 Fea pi2pi2s) 0-9" FS. Sete) Od A list of notable mathematicians who have contributed tothe theory of the hypergeometric function include Colin Maclaurin (1698-1746), Leonhard Euler (1707-1783), John Landen (1719-1790), James Ivory (1765-1842), Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), Emst Eduard Kummer (1810-1893), and Arthur Cayley (1821-1895). 6. Generalized hypergeometric functions In this section we briefly introduce the generalized hypergeometric funetion defined by the ) _ oD Carded = (dn xf Gila Onde HE If m n+ 1 ten the series diverges. Another noation in common use is Econ! ‘The ondinary hypergeometric function considered in previous sections can thus be written as 1) = mul soy Pu Boor Bi Fea, b:e.0) = ahi( af ) = 2Fila,bje:3). All ofthe formulas stein Seton 5 without derivation can be found in (1 7. Three additional formulas for the perimeter In his section we list three additional formulas forthe perimeter of the ellipse without giving their derivation. Two of the three can be expressed conveniently in terms of the hypergeometric oo] My 1 an (les \o, (185 canis (5) + (55) M+ (S555) H+ (FES) Pp where We note that the Gauss-Kummer relation is derived from the hypergeometric series [2], [4] we) ay ‘The Gauss-Kummer relation (14) is oblained by setting @ = — (a= bya +b) in(12), abs ‘T.R. CHANDRUPATLA AND T. J. OSLER Our second formula was derived by Cayley [3, pp. 46-55] forthe case when a/b is large by substituting k = b/a in the governing differential equation. Cayley's series is pasts ted tes “ Rs 4 “ tare (mz yaa) . ] as) (Our third formula was given by Euler and is represented by the hypergeometric relation Lene) anVueT Pr, pax +5r(3 ( )) (16) # fa? in (13) Euler’s formula (16) is obtained by setting a = ‘8. Comparing the four formulas for the perimeter We now use a computer fo compare the following four formulas for the perimeter of the ellipse: Mociasin P= 2or “Tanue Best Gauss a Perimeter formula Kummer Cayley Euler Maclaur 1 09909 6282871152. GK 2 76027 2 4 1 099 6251808848 GK 31192 4 9 1 09 5973100433 G-K 6 136 7 Is 1 08 5672333578 G-K 7 68 0 » 107 5382368981 G-K 5 4 4 2 1 06 5.105 39973, 0 3 ey oe 1 os 484422411 Bow 28 93 1 04 4602622519 16 18 2 147 1 03 438591007 a 4 B 260 1 02 4.202008908, 30 n 153 502 1 oa 4.063974 18 56 5 si 2027 1 00s 4019425619 102 6 1941 7131 1 004 = 4013143313, is 6 2907 10646 1 003 400790045, 159 6 488017701 1 002 400383016 ns S 1007s 64s 1 oor 4.001.098 33, 405 4 Miss ITT 1 0.005 4.000309233, m3 4 1izgah 393112 1 0.004 4.000205 049 870 4 168M 568 193, 10.003 4000120318 1100) 4 265848 906354 10.002 400056807 1327 3 Sisdod 1719205 10.001 400015588 2643 3152064 4816475 1 0.0001 400000202 Cayley 13943 3 29939308 43144616 [0.000001 400000000 Cayley _ 80386 AS <The perimeter ofan ellipse 129 Gauss-Kummer Cayley Euler In Table 1 we list our results fora standard ellipse with semi ‘and semi-minor axis b ranging from I to 0. The perimeter is listed inthe third column. In the last four columns \we give the number of terms needed inthe series to compute the perimeter numerically o eight, decimal places. Appendix A. MICROSOFT EXCEL implementation A.user-defined function in MICROSOFT EXCEL iseasy to develop. To open the spreadsheet, press AIL-FII. You will see Microsoft Visual Basic Book 1. Click “Insert” and select “Module”. ‘You get the Module I screen. Type in the functions in visual basie as given below. The functions will be available in the spreadsheet, The three functions developed are hgs(a.b,¢,2)s sgauskun (a,b) , cayley (a,b), and gke (a, b). The first one, hgs (a,b) , calculates the hy= pergeometric series F(a, b; ¢; 2) he other three evaluate the ellipse perimeter (gauskum(a,b) using the Gauss-Kummer series (14), cayley (a,b) using the Cayley formula (15), and coke (a,b) using the Gauss-Kummer or Cayley series so thatthe perimeter is evaluated using, the least number of terms in the series) Function hgs(a, b,c, 2) atbietz ealee n-1 Do a +1 ne i tavetbinte Loop While 61 <> 5 hgs = 8 End Function Function gke(a, b) ‘2 = Abs(a): b = Abs(b) Ifa 0.25 Then ‘gke = gauskum(a, b) Else ake = cayley(a, b) End If End Function Function gauskum(a, b) (a-b) / (a+b) Osh deere tetros (ea tn pl=p pepttre usu? Loop While pl <> p gauskun = Application.Pi() * (a +b) * p End Punction Function cayley(a, b) xeb/a 02 = Logi4 / x) - 0.5 t= 05 tx pritveure al = 1: a2=2 sl = al / a2 s2=1/ al / a2 tect st en a2 al =al+ a2 =ad+2 sisal / e2=1/al / a2 theti*x* al 12 = 12 - a2 pl=p Deptt tz Loop While pl <> p cayley = 4*at*p End Function ‘The calculation terminates when the addition of a term does not change the value for given ‘machine precision. The precision is about le-12,The perimeter ofan ellipse BI Michon [6] discussed the Gauss-Kummer and Cayley series: the article provides the QBASIC function gic (h) using a combination of Gauss-Kummer and Cayley formulas. References 0 Anmasiowrrz, MAND STEGUN.L A. (es) (1964. Handbook of Mathematica! Futons with Formalas, Graphs ‘nd Mathematical Tables, US Government Printing Ofce, Washinglon, DC, Available at ip sewe-lspi reobleferesherche/t21252Reahram/bibioshramovei_and- segue bm, ‘ALMKvIST G. AND BERNDT, B, (98), Gaus, Landen, Ranta the athmetic-geometre mean, ellipse, te Ladies day. Amer Math, Monty 98, 385-608. [3] Cassy A (1961) An Elememary Treatise of Eliptic Funesons, 2nd edn. Dover, New York. [HI Lixpeaion, C.F ano Stat, A.C. (1998). An overlooked series forthe eli parameter. Math Magazine 168, 216-220. [5] Mactavnin,C. (1782). Aratse on Peron. Eaiburgh [6] Mionos, G. P. 008), Perimeter of an elpse (review), Available the Final Answers section of bhp namerican convanswerelipse mea [7] Tenrvanun M, AND POLLARD, H. (1963). Onliaary DiferetalEquaions, Dover, New York. a