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    Calculus 3

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    simbachipsy
    The document discusses curvature and the unit normal vector for vector functions. It defines the unit normal vector N(t) as the unit vector in the direction of dT/dt, where T(t) is the unit tangent vector. The acceleration vector a(t) is shown to be a linear combination of the unit tangent and normal vectors. The curvature κ is defined as the magnitude of dT/ds and relates to the normal component of acceleration. Examples are given to demonstrate calculating T(t), N(t), and κ for given vector functions.

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    Calculus 3

    Uploaded by

    simbachipsy
    6 views2 pages
    The document discusses curvature and the unit normal vector for vector functions. It defines the unit normal vector N(t) as the unit vector in the direction of dT/dt, where T(t) is the unit tangent vector. The acceleration vector a(t) is shown to be a linear combination of the unit tangent and normal vectors. The curvature κ is defined as the magnitude of dT/ds and relates to the normal component of acceleration. Examples are given to demonstrate calculating T(t), N(t), and κ for given vector functions.

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    The document discusses curvature and the unit normal vector for vector functions. It defines the unit normal vector N(t) as the unit vector in the direction of dT/dt, where T(t) is the unit tangent vector. The acceleration vector a(t) is shown to be a linear combination of the unit tangent and normal vectors. The curvature κ is defined as the magnitude of dT/ds and relates to the normal component of acceleration. Examples are given to demonstrate calculating T(t), N(t), and κ for given vector functions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    6 views2 pages

    Calculus 3

    Uploaded by

    simbachipsy
    The document discusses curvature and the unit normal vector for vector functions. It defines the unit normal vector N(t) as the unit vector in the direction of dT/dt, where T(t) is the unit tangent vector. The acceleration vector a(t) is shown to be a linear combination of the unit tangent and normal vectors. The curvature κ is defined as the magnitude of dT/ds and relates to the normal component of acceleration. Examples are given to demonstrate calculating T(t), N(t), and κ for given vector functions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Lecture Notes, M261-004, Curvature and the Unit Normal

    Vector

    Sept 10, 2008

    We are continuing to look at geometric considerations for vector functions. Last time, we looked
    at the unit tangent vector and arc length reparameterizations of vector functions. We use these
    concepts to study the next topic. I take a different approach than the textbook that will hopefully
    compliment it and be more intuitive.
    Consider the unit tangent vector from the previous section, T(t). Remember that we find T(t)
    by taking the derivative of r(t) and dividing by speed, so T(t) always has magnitude one. It
    is important to note that T(t) is also a vector function. Since it has constant magnitude, it is
    orthogonal to its derivative, dT
    dt . We can obtain the direction of this vector by
    dT
    dt
    dT
    dt

    We call this unit vector the unit normal vector to the curve at t and denote it by N(t). We
    have the formula
    dT dT
    = N
    dt dt
    We now consider the second derivative of our original vector function, r(t). Assuming that
    it gives the position of a moving particle, the second derivative is going to give the acceleration
    vector, a(t). Acceleration is the derivative of velocity, which has the formula
    ds
    v(t) = T(t)
    dt
    We can expand a(t) as follows:
    da d ds dT ds d2 s ds dT d2 s
    = (T ) = +T 2 = N+T 2
    dt dt dt dt dt dt dt dt dt
    So we see that the acceleration vector is a linear combination of the unit tangent vector and the
    unit normal vector. These two vectors define a plane, (draw them from the same initial point and
    that point along with the two terminal points defines the plane), and this plane is called the plane
    of motion. In the sum for a, we can think of the coefficient of N as how quickly the particle
    is accelerating away from its current direction of motion. This is a very important quantity and
    we are often interested in it or some multiple of it. The quantity we compute most often that is
    related to it is the curvature, defined by
    dT
    κ=
    ds

    1
    which can be calculated as
    1 dT
    κ=
    kVk dt
    The normal component of the accleration vector is then
    ds 2
    κ( )
    dt
    And if the vector function r is unit-speed, this component is just κ. (In this case, κ is given
    just by kak.)
    Example 1. In the plane, find the curvature of

    r(t) = ha cos(t), a sin(t)i

    This example shows that the curvature of a circle of radius a is given by a1 . For a plane curve, at
    every point we can draw a tangent circle. (A circle intersecting the curve at that point and having
    the same tangent vector.) It will have radius κ1 , and hence we call κ1 the radius of curvature.
    We can also use curvature to approximate how far a particle moves from its initial direction of
    travel in a short time. Using Taylor series, we can approximate

    h2
    r(t + h) ≈ r(t) + hv(t) + a(t)
    2
    This means the component of displacement in the normal direction is approximated by
     2
    h2 h2 ds
    (r(t + h) − r(t)) · N ≈ a(t) · N = κ
    2 2 dt
    Example 2. Find T, N, and κ for the curve

    r(t) = h3 sin(t), 3 cos(t), 4ti

    The velocity vector is given by

    r′ (t) = h3 cos(t), −3 sin(t), 4i

    This has magnitude 5. We divide by 5 to get the unit tangent vector:


     
    3 3 4
    T(t) = cos(t), − sin(t),
    5 5 5
    Now we take the derivative:  
    dT 3 3
    = − sin(t), − cos(t), 0
    dt 5 5
    This has magnitude 53 , so we need to divide by 3
    5 to get the unit normal vector:

    N(t) = h− sin(t), − cos(t), 0i .

    Finally, we obtain the curvature:


    1 dT 3
    κ= =
    kvk dt 25

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