Question

Find the arc length of the following curve on the given interval by integrating with respect to x.

y=(8x^3 /3) + (1/32x) on [1,5]

An integral that gives the arc length is:

The arc length is:

Answer 1

To find the arc length, we can use the formula:

\[L = \int_a^b \sqrt{1 + \left(\frac{dy}{dx}\right)^2} \, dx\]

In this case, \(y = \frac{8x^3}{3} + \frac{1}{32x}\) on the interval \([1, 5]\).

First, let's find \(\frac{dy}{dx}\):

\[\frac{dy}{dx} = 8x^2 - \frac{1}{32x^2}\]

Now we can substitute this into the formula for arc length:

\[L = \int_1^5 \sqrt{1 + \left(8x^2 - \frac{1}{32x^2}\right)^2} \, dx\]

Simplifying the expression inside the square root gives:

\[L = \int_1^5 \sqrt{1 + 64x^4 - \frac{1}{16x^4}} \, dx\]

Now we can integrate:

\[L = \int_1^5 \sqrt{\frac{1024x^4 + 16x^8 - 1}{16x^4}} \, dx\]

To simplify this expression further, we can split it into two separate integrals:

\[L = \int_1^5 \frac{\sqrt{1024x^4 + 16x^8 - 1}}{4x^2} \, dx\]

\[L = \frac{1}{4} \int_1^5 \frac{\sqrt{1024x^4 + 16x^8 - 1}}{x^2} \, dx\]

Unfortunately, this integral does not have a simple closed-form solution. You would need to numerically approximate it using numerical integration methods such as Simpson's rule or numerical software.