Objective of the project is to use technology to find the arc length of a curve using simulations and simple programming concepts and compare it with the theoretical results.
Question 1: Consider the curve:
y = (1/3)x^3 + (1/4x), x >= 1
1) Graph the curve provided above.
2) Find the arc length function for this curve starting with the point x >= 1.
3) Graph the arc length function.
4) On the same figure, graph the function provided as well as the arc length function.
5) Write your observation about the obtained result.
Question 2: Consider the curves of fat circles given by the equation:
x^n + y^n = 1, n = 4, 6, 8, ...
1) Graph the curves with n = 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 to see why it is called a fat circle.
2) Set up an integral for the length of the fat circle L_n where n is an even number.
3) Without attempting to evaluate this integral, state the value of lim (n->∞) L_n.
Notes about graphing:
1) You can use Matlab, wxMaxima, Maple, Symbolab graphing calculator to graph the curves.
2) Label the axes and provide a caption for each graph.
3) Provide legends when needed.