ENGG1130

2020-2021 Term 2 Topic 3 – Arc length and Arc length Parametrization

1. Arc length and Arc length Parametrization

In this section, we will introduce the ideas about arc length.

Consider an object moving at constant (uniform) speed over time. The object travels for
a distance and the distance (or arc length) can be modelled as multiplication of speed
and time spent.

𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷 = 𝐷𝐷𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝑠𝑠 × 𝑇𝑇𝐷𝐷𝑇𝑇𝐷𝐷 𝑆𝑆𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷

If the object is travelling with varying speed, one may compute the distance by means of
integration:

𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷 = �(𝐷𝐷𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝑠𝑠) × 𝑠𝑠(𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝑇𝑇𝐷𝐷)

You may find similarity between the result above and the way we find area of a
rectangle by integration.

𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷 = �(ℎ𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝑒𝑒ℎ𝐷𝐷) × 𝑠𝑠(𝑤𝑤𝐷𝐷𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷ℎ)

1
Prepared by Dr. Patrick TSANG
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ENGG1130
2020-2021 Term 2 Topic 3 – Arc length and Arc length Parametrization

Formally, we have

Theorem 3.1
Given a parametric curve 𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷). The arc length of the given curve from the point 𝐷𝐷 = 𝐷𝐷
to the point 𝐷𝐷 = 𝑏𝑏 is given by

𝑏𝑏
� |𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)|𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷
𝑎𝑎

where |𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)| represents the magnitude of 𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷).

In the previous section, we discussed 𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷) = 〈𝑥𝑥(𝐷𝐷), 𝑦𝑦(𝐷𝐷), 𝑧𝑧(𝐷𝐷)〉 over some intervals,
and let’s recall they are parametric equation of a curve. We will also have the following

𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷) = 〈𝑥𝑥 ′ (𝐷𝐷), 𝑦𝑦 ′ (𝐷𝐷), 𝑧𝑧 ′ (𝐷𝐷)〉

and

2 2 2
|𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)| = ��𝑥𝑥 ′ (𝐷𝐷)� + �𝑦𝑦 ′ (𝐷𝐷)� + �𝑧𝑧 ′ (𝐷𝐷)�

If 2-D case is concerned, we simply regard the last component 𝑧𝑧(𝐷𝐷) to be zero, the result
still holds.

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ENGG1130
2020-2021 Term 2 Topic 3 – Arc length and Arc length Parametrization

Example 3.1
Given a helix 𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷) = 〈cos 𝐷𝐷 , sin 𝐷𝐷 , 𝐷𝐷〉. Find the arc length from 𝐷𝐷 = 0 to 𝐷𝐷 = 𝜋𝜋.

𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷) = 〈cos 𝐷𝐷 , sin 𝐷𝐷 , 𝐷𝐷〉 = cos 𝐷𝐷 𝒊𝒊 + sin 𝐷𝐷 𝒋𝒋 + 𝐷𝐷𝒌𝒌

𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷) = 〈− sin 𝐷𝐷 , cos 𝐷𝐷 , 1〉 = − sin 𝐷𝐷 𝒊𝒊 + cos 𝐷𝐷 𝒋𝒋 + 𝒌𝒌

|𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)| = �(− sin 𝐷𝐷) 2 + (cos 𝐷𝐷) 2 + 12 = √2

The required are length of the helix

𝜋𝜋 𝜋𝜋
= � |𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷)|𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷 = � √2 𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷 = √2𝜋𝜋
0 0

Example 3.2
Find the arc length of the curve 𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷) = 𝐷𝐷𝒊𝒊 + 3 sin 𝐷𝐷 𝒋𝒋 + 3 cos 𝐷𝐷 𝒌𝒌 from (0, 0, 3) to
(2𝜋𝜋, 0, 3).

Firstly, we need to check the starting and ending in terms of 𝐷𝐷 . The starting points
corresponds to 𝐷𝐷 = 0 for the point (0, 0, 3) and the ending point corresponds to 𝐷𝐷 = 2𝜋𝜋
for the point (2𝜋𝜋, 0, 3). (Verify it.)

Then, we need

𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷) = 〈1, 3 cos 𝐷𝐷 , − 3sin 𝐷𝐷〉

|𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)| = �12 + (3 cos 𝐷𝐷) 2 + (−3 sin 𝐷𝐷)

= √1 + 9 = √10
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ENGG1130
2020-2021 Term 2 Topic 3 – Arc length and Arc length Parametrization

Hence, the required arc length

2𝜋𝜋
= � �𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)|𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷
0
2𝜋𝜋
= � �10 𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷
0

= 2√10𝜋𝜋

Note that although the last two examples return |𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)| with a number, it, in general,
may not be the case and the computation will become somewhat complicated.

Consider that if we wish to find out the general expression of arc length in terms of , we
term this function arc length function 𝐷𝐷(𝐷𝐷) see the next example.

Example 3.3
Find the arc length function for the curve in Example 3.2. From previous example, we
have

|𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)| = √10

The required arc length function

𝑡𝑡
𝐷𝐷(𝐷𝐷) = � √10 𝑠𝑠𝑥𝑥
0

= √10𝐷𝐷

Here, we use 𝑠𝑠𝑥𝑥 intentionall

y so as to avoid confusion of 𝐷𝐷 and 𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷 since 𝑠𝑠𝑥𝑥 and 𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷 carry the same physical meaning
and result in the computation.
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ENGG1130
2020-2021 Term 2 Topic 3 – Arc length and Arc length Parametrization

Another motivation of Example 3.3 is to show that

𝐷𝐷(𝐷𝐷)
𝐷𝐷 = .
√10

We hope to plug in the just solved 𝐷𝐷 back to the original curve 𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷).

By so doing, we can simply tell where the object is located on the curve if we know the
distance of 𝐷𝐷 along the curve.

Note that we begin the measurement of distance travelled from the location/point at 𝐷𝐷
equal to zero. i.e. 𝐷𝐷 = 0.

This technique is called reparametrization. The function 𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷) is reparametrized into the
form

𝒓𝒓�𝐷𝐷(𝐷𝐷)�.

From the Examples 3.2 & 3.3. We can write

𝐷𝐷 𝐷𝐷 𝐷𝐷
𝒓𝒓�𝐷𝐷(𝐷𝐷)� = 〈 , 3 sin , 3 cos 〉
√10 √10 √10

The function 𝒓𝒓�𝐷𝐷(𝐷𝐷)� becomes a function of new parameter 𝐷𝐷 now.

In particular, if 𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷) is a parametric curve such that

|𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)| = 1

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ENGG1130
2020-2021 Term 2 Topic 3 – Arc length and Arc length Parametrization

Why |𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)| = 1?

Consider

𝑠𝑠𝒓𝒓 𝑠𝑠𝒓𝒓 𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷 𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷

|𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)| = � � = � � = |𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)| � �
𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷 𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷 𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷 𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷

Also, we have

𝐷𝐷
𝐷𝐷 = � �𝒓𝒓′ (𝑢𝑢)� 𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑢.
𝐷𝐷

By the Fundamental Theorem of calculus, it tells that

𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷
= |𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)|.
𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷

Therefore,

𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷
|𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)| = |𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)| � �
𝑠𝑠𝐷𝐷

1
= |𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)| ∙ =1
|𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)|

for any 𝐷𝐷, we say that the curve is parametrized by arc length and the curve 𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷) moves
with unit speed.

One should be aware that it may be complicated to find an arc length parametrization
when the given curve 𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷) is not nice to work with…

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ENGG1130
2020-2021 Term 2 Topic 3 – Arc length and Arc length Parametrization

To generalize the procedure of arc length parametrization, we can follow

1) Given a curve 𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷), compute the integral

𝐷𝐷
𝐷𝐷 = � �𝒓𝒓′ (𝑢𝑢)� 𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑢
𝐷𝐷

2) From 1), we note that the upper limit of the integral is 𝐷𝐷, the function 𝐷𝐷 should be a
function of 𝐷𝐷 after integration. When the integration gets done, we express 𝐷𝐷 in terms of
𝐷𝐷 whenever possible, then 𝐷𝐷 becomes a function of 𝐷𝐷, i.e.

𝐷𝐷 = 𝐷𝐷(𝐷𝐷).

3) Substitute all quantities related to 𝐷𝐷 with 𝐷𝐷 = 𝐷𝐷(𝐷𝐷) in the given curve 𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷).

Example 3.4
Recall Example 3.1 find the arc length parametrization of the helix,

𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷) = 〈cos 𝐷𝐷 , sin 𝐷𝐷, 𝐷𝐷 〉

from the point (1,0,0) with the same orientation as the given helix.

We can check that

𝒓𝒓(0) = 〈cos 0 , sin 0, 0 〉
= 〈 1, 0, 0 〉

So we take the initial point 𝐷𝐷0 = 0.

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ENGG1130
2020-2021 Term 2 Topic 3 – Arc length and Arc length Parametrization

𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷) = 〈cos 𝐷𝐷 , sin 𝐷𝐷, 𝐷𝐷 〉

𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷) = 〈−sin 𝐷𝐷 , cos 𝐷𝐷 , 1 〉

|𝒓𝒓′ (𝐷𝐷)| = √2
(Refer to Example 3.1 for details)

𝑡𝑡 𝑡𝑡
′ (𝑢𝑢)
∴ 𝐷𝐷 = � �𝒓𝒓 �𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑢 = � √2 𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑢 = √2𝐷𝐷
0 0

𝑠𝑠
Therefore, 𝐷𝐷 = and the reparametrization of the helix in terms of 𝐷𝐷 become
√2

𝐷𝐷 𝐷𝐷 𝐷𝐷
𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷) = 〈cos , sin , 〉.
√2 √2 √2

Practice:

i) Find the arc length parametrization of the following curve.

3
𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷) = 3𝐷𝐷 2 𝒊𝒊 + √32𝐷𝐷 2 𝒋𝒋 + 6𝐷𝐷𝒌𝒌

where 𝐷𝐷 is non-negative, i.e. 𝐷𝐷 ≥ 0

ii) Given (𝐷𝐷) = 〈4𝐷𝐷 , −2𝐷𝐷 , √5𝐷𝐷 2 〉 , show the arc length function

𝐷𝐷(𝐷𝐷) = √5 �𝐷𝐷�𝐷𝐷 2 + 1 + ln |�𝐷𝐷 2 + 1 + 𝐷𝐷|�.

Suggested Answer:
i)
3
2
2
𝒓𝒓(𝐷𝐷(𝐷𝐷)) = 〈3�√9 + 3𝐷𝐷 − 3� , √32 �√9 + 3𝐷𝐷 − 3� , 6(�√9 + 3𝐷𝐷 − 3�〉

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