---- > [!definition]+ Definition. ([[arc length of a path]]) > The **arc length** of a differentiable, [[regular curve|regular]] [[parameterized curve|Euclidean path]] $\boldsymbol{\alpha}: I \to \mathbb{R}^{n}$ from the point $t_{0}$ is defined $s(t)=\int _{t_{0}}^{t} \|\boldsymbol{\alpha}'(\tau)\|_{2} \, d\tau. $ > ^e7f19d > [!basicexample]+ > Consider the helix $\boldsymbol{\alpha}(t)=(\sin t, \cos t, t), t \in (-\infty, \infty)$ of pitch $2\pi$. The [[velocity vector of a parameterized curve|tangent vector]] to the trace of $\boldsymbol{\alpha}$ is $\boldsymbol{\alpha}'(t)=(\cos t, -\sin t, 1)$ and consequently we have parameterization speed $\|\boldsymbol{\alpha}'(t)\|_{2}=\sqrt{ 2 }$. Thus the [[arc length of a path|arc length]] function starting at $t_{0}=0$ is $\int_{0}^{t} \sqrt{ 2 } \, dt= t\sqrt{ 2 }$. > > We can obtain a [[parameterization by arc length|(re)parameterization]] of $\boldsymbol{\alpha}$ by [[arc length of a path|arc length]] as follows: define $\begin{align} \Phi : & (-\infty, \infty) \to (-\infty, \infty) \\ s \mapsto & \Phi(s) := \frac{t}{\sqrt{ 2 }} ;\end{align}$ then we can verify that $\tilde{\alpha}:= \boldsymbol{\alpha} \circ \Phi$ is a [[parameterization by arc length]] thus: >$\begin{align} \|\tilde{\alpha}'(t)\|_{2}= & \| D\boldsymbol{\alpha} |_{\Phi(t)} D\Phi(t) \|_{2} \\ = & \|(\cos \Phi(t), \sin \phi(t), 1) \frac{1}{\sqrt{ 2 }}\|_{2} \\ = & 1. \end{align}$ ^13e6ff ---- #### References > [!backlink] > ```dataview > TABLE rows.file.link as "Further Reading" > FROM [[]] > FLATTEN file.tags as Tag > WHERE Tag = "#definition" OR Tag = "#theorem" OR Tag = "#MOC" OR Tag = "#proposition" OR Tag = "#axiom" > GROUP BY Tag > ``` > [!frontlink] > ```dataview > TABLE rows.file.link as "Further Reading" > FROM outgoing([[]]) > FLATTEN file.tags as Tag > WHERE Tag = "#definition" OR Tag = "#theorem" OR Tag = "#MOC" OR Tag = "#proposition" OR Tag = "#axiom" > GROUP BY Tag > ```