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a cycloid is the plane curve traced out by a point on the circumference of a circle as it rolls without slipping along a straight line. (a) assume that the line is the x-axis, and the circle has radius 1. find a parametriza- tion of the cycloid. (b) what is the arclength of one period of the cycloid?

User SubSevn
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Answer: (a) Let the circle roll along the x-axis with the center at the origin. Then, the parametric equations of the cycloid are given by:

x = t - sin(t)

y = 1 - cos(t)

where t is the angle in radians that the circle has rotated from its initial position.

(b) The arclength of one period of the cycloid is given by the integral:

L = ∫(0,2π) √[dx/dt]^2 + [dy/dt]^2 dt

Substituting the parametric equations from part (a), we get:

dx/dt = 1 - cos(t)

dy/dt = sin(t)

Therefore,

[dx/dt]^2 + [dy/dt]^2 = 2 - 2cos(t)

Substituting back into the arclength integral, we get:

L = ∫(0,2π) √(2 - 2cos(t)) dt

This integral can be evaluated using the half-angle formula:

cos(t) = 1 - 2sin^2(t/2)

Substituting this into the integral and simplifying, we get:

L = 8∫(0,π/2) √(sin^3(t/2)) dt

This integral can be evaluated using a substitution u = cos(t/2), du = -sin(t/2)dt:

L = 16∫(0,1) √[(1-u^2)^3] du

This integral can be further simplified by making the substitution u = sin(θ):

L = 16∫(0,π/2) cos^4(θ) dθ

This integral can be evaluated using integration by parts and trigonometric identities. After some algebraic manipulations, we get:

L = 8π

Explanation:

User Kevin Viggers
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