- #1
John_Doe
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The function of arc-length [tex]c[/tex] that minimises [tex]\int^b_{a}{y dx}[/tex] is the catenary, but why? I have tried using calculus of variations, [tex]\frac{\partial f}{\partial y} - \frac{d}{dx}(\frac{\partial f}{\partial \dot{y}}) + \lambda (\frac{\partial g}{\partial y}) = 0[/tex], however I don't know which constraint function to use.
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