Arc Length 3-D: Find Length Between (8,4,0) & (24,36,4log(3))

mknut389
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Homework Statement



Consider the path f{r}(t) = (8t, 4t^2, 4log(t) ) defined for t > 0.
Find the length of the curve between the points (8, 4, 0) and (24, 36, 4log(3)).

Homework Equations



\int|r' (t)|dt

The Attempt at a Solution



r(t)=(8t, 4t^2, 4log(t))
r'(t)=(8, 8t, 4/(ln(10)t))
|r' (t)|=\sqrt{8^2+(8t)^2+(1.737177927/t)^2}
|r' (t)|=\sqrt{64+64t^2+3.01778715219/t^2}

At Point (8,4,0) t=1 and at Point (24, 36, 4log(3)) t=3
Therefore the integral is from 1 to 3

from here, the integral of \int\sqrt{64+64t^2+3.01778715219/t^2}
is to complex to do by hand, so with MATLAB and TI-89 I am getting an answer of 36.106527, which according to the assignment is wrong. Am I going about this problem wrong? what should I do?
 
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Are you sure that by log(t) it's not referring to base e logarithm? Some books use log and ln as the same thing. Also, you have a 1/x when you should have a 1/t in the third coordinate
 
I am sure it is log(t) and not ln(t). That would make it a bit easier... Thanks for the variable mistake catch... I fixed it...
 
I get 36.10652942031572. I don't think you are doing anything fundamentally wrong. Why are you sure it's not ln(x)?
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
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