Calculus II - Arc Length

Show Mobile Notice

Mobile Notice

You appear to be on a device with a "narrow" screen width (i.e. you are probably on a mobile phone). Due to the nature of the mathematics on this site it is best viewed in landscape mode. If your device is not in landscape mode many of the equations will run off the side of your device (you should be able to scroll/swipe to see them) and some of the menu items will be cut off due to the narrow screen width.

Section 8.1 : Arc Length

Back to Problem List

1. Set up, but do not evaluate, an integral for the length of $y = \sqrt {x + 2}$ , $1 \le x \le 7$ using,

$\displaystyle ds = \sqrt {1 + {{\left[ {\frac{{dy}}{{dx}}} \right]}^2}} \,dx$
$\displaystyle ds = \sqrt {1 + {{\left[ {\frac{{dx}}{{dy}}} \right]}^2}} \,dy$

Show All Solutions Hide All Solutions

$\displaystyle ds = \sqrt {1 + {{\left[ {\frac{{dy}}{{dx}}} \right]}^2}} \,dx$ Show All Steps Hide All Steps
Start Solution

We’ll need the derivative of the function first.

$\frac{{dy}}{{dx}} = \frac{1}{2}{\left( {x + 2} \right)^{ - \,\frac{1}{2}}} = \frac{1}{{2{{\left( {x + 2} \right)}^{\,\frac{1}{2}}}}}$ Show Step 2

Plugging this into the formula for $\displaystyle ds$ gives,

$ds = \sqrt {1 + {{\left[ {\frac{{dy}}{{dx}}} \right]}^2}} \,dx = \sqrt {1 + {{\left[ {\frac{1}{{2{{\left( {x + 2} \right)}^{\,\frac{1}{2}}}}}} \right]}^2}} \,dx = \sqrt {1 + \frac{1}{{4\left( {x + 2} \right)}}} \,dx = \sqrt {\frac{{4x + 9}}{{4\left( {x + 2} \right)}}} \,dx$ Show Step 3

All we need to do now is set up the integral for the arc length. Also note that we have a $dx$ in the formula for $\displaystyle ds$ and so we know that we need $x$ limits of integration which we’ve been given in the problem statement.

$L = \int_{{}}^{{}}{{ds}} = \require{bbox} \bbox[2pt,border:1px solid black]{{\int_{1}^{7}{{\sqrt {\frac{{4x + 9}}{{4x + 8}}} \,dx}}}}$

$\displaystyle ds = \sqrt {1 + {{\left[ {\frac{{dx}}{{dy}}} \right]}^2}} \,dy$ Show All Steps Hide All Steps
Start Solution

In this case we first need to solve the function for $x$ so we can compute the derivative in the $\displaystyle ds$ .

$y = \sqrt {x + 2} \hspace{0.5in} \to \hspace{0.5in}x = {y^2} - 2$

The derivative of this is,

$\frac{{dx}}{{dy}} = 2y$ Show Step 2

Plugging this into the formula for $\displaystyle ds$ gives,

$ds = \sqrt {1 + {{\left[ {\frac{{dx}}{{dy}}} \right]}^2}} \,dy = \sqrt {1 + {{\left[ {2y} \right]}^2}} \,dy = \sqrt {1 + 4{y^2}} \,dy$ Show Step 3

Next, note that the $\displaystyle ds$ has a $dy$ in it and so we’ll need $y$ limits of integration.

We are only given $x$ limits in the problem statement. However, we can plug these into the function we were given in the problem statement to convert them to $y$ limits. Doing this gives,

$x = 1:y = \sqrt 3 \hspace{0.25in}\hspace{0.25in}\hspace{0.25in}x = 7:y = \sqrt 9 = 3$

So, the corresponding $y$ limits are : $\sqrt 3 \le y \le 3$ .

Show Step 4

Finally, all we need to do is set up the integral.

$L = \int_{{}}^{{}}{{ds}} = \require{bbox} \bbox[2pt,border:1px solid black]{{\int_{{\sqrt 3 }}^{3}{{\sqrt {1 + 4{y^2}} \,dy}}}}$