Minimizing arclength with a set of parameters

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on finding a function whose integral equals 1 over the interval [0, 1] while minimizing arc length and passing through the points (0,0) and (1,0). The user has experimented with various geometric shapes, including triangles and trapezoids, noting that trapezoids yield smaller arc lengths than triangles. The user seeks to identify a curved line that minimizes arc length further and inquires about the arc lengths of different shapes, including ellipses and sinusoidal functions like A sin(x).

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of calculus, specifically integral calculus
  • Familiarity with arc length formulas in geometry
  • Knowledge of geometric shapes and their properties
  • Basic understanding of trigonometric functions and their applications
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the calculus of variations to find functions that minimize arc length
  • Explore the properties of ellipses and their arc lengths
  • Investigate the application of parametric equations in defining curves
  • Learn about the optimization techniques in calculus for constrained problems
USEFUL FOR

Mathematicians, physics students, and anyone interested in optimization problems related to arc length and integral calculus.

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i am trying make a function who's integral is equal to 1 from 0 to 1 and goes threw points (0,0) and (1,0) with the minimal arc length, is tehre anyway to do this?

i have tried a couple things, which iwll get me xome question, i have made a triangle, and i have made many trapazoids, the trapazoids have a small arc length then the triangle, but i am sure there is a curved line that is even smaller, how would you find this curved line.
 
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What arc lengths do you get for the triangle (2 sides), square (3 sides), trapezoid (still 3 sides), whatever (4 sides), etc.? And what do you get for an ellipse? And what do you get for the function A sin(x) appropriately scaled? Do you see any trends that you can use to prove that <whatever> has minimum arc length?
 
for a triangle i get an arc length of 2sqrt4.25 = 4.123105626
for a square (or trapazoid with sides that have a slope of 10000000000 or negligible amount) i get 3

i am redoing the trapazoid with a slope of 4, i realized a made a mistake.
 

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