Section 9.

2 Calculus with Parametric Curves

Calculus with Parametric Curves

Suppose f and g are differentiable functions and we
parametric curve x = f (t), y = g(t) where y is also a
gives
dy
dy
=
dt
dx
If dx/dt 6= 0, we can solve for dy/dx:
dy
dy
= dt
dx
dx
dt

if

want to find the tangent line at a point on the

differentiable function of x. Then the Chain Rule

dx
dt

dx
6= 0
dt

(1)

It can be seen from (1) that the curve has a horizontal tangent when dy/dt = 0 (provided that dx/dt 6= 0)
and it has a vertical tangent when dx/dt = 0 (provided that dy/dt 6= 0).
EXAMPLE 1: A curve C is defined by the parametric equations x = t2 , y = t3 3t.

(a) Show that C has two tangents at the point (3, 0) and find their equations.
(b) Find the points on C where the tangent is horizontal or vertical.
(c) Determine where the curve is concave upward or downward.
(d) Sketch the curve.

Section 9.2 Calculus with Parametric Curves

EXAMPLE 1: A curve C is defined by the parametric equations x = t2 , y = t3 3t.

(a) Show that C has two tangents at the point (3, 0) and find their equations.
(b) Find the points on C where the tangent is horizontal or vertical.
(c) Determine where the curve is concave upward or downward.
(d) Sketch the curve.

Solution:

3. Therefore, the point (3, 0) on C arises from two values of the

(a) Notice that
x = t2 = 3 when
t
=

parameter, t = 3 and t = 3. This indicates that the curve C crosses itself at (3, 0). Since


dy
1
dy/dt
3t2 3
3
t
=
=
=
dx
dx/dt
2t
2
t

the slope of the tangent when t = 3 is dy/dx = 6/(2 3) = 3, so the equations of the tangents at
(3, 0) are

y = 3(x 3) and y = 3(x 3)

(b) C has a horizontal tangent when dy/dx = 0, that is, when dy/dt = 0 and dx/dt 6= 0. Since dy/dt =
3t2 3, this happens when t2 = 1, that is, t = 1. The corresponding points on C are (1, 2) and
(1, 2). C has a vertical tangent when dx/dt = 2t = 0, that is, t = 0. (Note that dy/dt 6= 0 there.) The
corresponding point on C is (0, 0).
(c) To determine concavity we calculate the second derivative:
 


d dy
3
1
1+ 2
3(t2 + 1)
d2 y
dt dx
2
t
=
=
=
dx
dx2
2t
4t3
dt
Thus the curve is concave upward when t > 0 and concave downward when t < 0.
(d) Using the information from parts (b) and (c), we sketch C:

EXAMPLE 2:
(a) Find the tangent to the cycloid x = r( sin ), y = r(1 cos ) at the point where = /3.

(b) At what points is the tangent horizontal? When is it vertical?

2

Section 9.2 Calculus with Parametric Curves

EXAMPLE 2:
(a) Find the tangent to the cycloid x = r( sin ), y = r(1 cos ) at the point where = /3.

(b) At what points is the tangent horizontal? When is it vertical?

Solution:
(a) The slope of the tangent line is

dy
dy/d
r sin
sin
=
=
=
dx
dx/d
r(1 cos )
1 cos
When = /3, we have

=r
sin
x=r
3
3


3
,

3
2


 r
y = r 1 cos
=
3
2

and

dy
sin(/3)
3/2
=
=
= 3
dx
1 cos(/3)
1 12

Therefore the slope of the tangent is 3 and its equation is

!



r r 3

r
y = 3 x
or
+
3x y = r 2
2
3
2
3

(b) The tangent is horizontal when dy/dx = 0, which occurs when sin = 0 and 1 cos 6= 0, that is,
= (2n 1), n an integer. The corresponding point on the cycloid is ((2n 1)r, 2r).
When = 2n, both dx/d and dy/d are 0. It appears from the graph that there are vertical tangents
at those points. We can verify this by using lHospitals Rule as follows:
lim +

2n

dy
sin
cos
= lim +
= lim +
=
dx 2n 1 cos 2n sin

A similar computation shows that dy/dx as 2n , so indeed there are vertical tangents when
= 2n, that is, when x = 2nr.

Section 9.2 Calculus with Parametric Curves

Areas
We know that the area under a curve y = F (x) from a to b is A =

F (x)dx, where F (x) 0. If the

curve is given by the parametric equations x = f (t) and y = g(t), t , then we can calculate an
area formula by using the Substitution Rule for Definite Integrals as follows:
A=


or

ydx =
a

g(t)f (t)dt

g(t)f (t)dt if (f (), g()) is the leftmost endpoint

EXAMPLE 3: Find the area under one arch of the cycloid

x = r( sin ),

y = r(1 cos )

Section 9.2 Calculus with Parametric Curves

EXAMPLE 3: Find the area under one arch of the cycloid

x = r( sin ),

y = r(1 cos )

Solution: One arch of the cycloid is given by 0 2. Using the Substitution Rule with y = r(1cos )
and dx = r(1 cos )d, we have
Z 2r
Z 2
A=
ydx =
r(1 cos )r(1 cos )d
0

=r
=r

Z
Z

(1 cos )2 d

0
2

(1 2 cos + cos2 )d

0
2



1
1 2 cos + (1 + cos 2) d
=r
2
0

2
1
2 3
=r
2 sin + sin 2
2
4
0


3
2 = 3r 2
= r2
2
2

Arc Length
We already know how to find the length L of a curve C given in the form y = F (x), a x b. In fact, if
F is continuous, then
s
 2
Z b
dy
L=
1+
(2)
dx
dx
a
Suppose that C can also be described by the parametric equations x = f (t) and y = g(t), t ,
where dx/dt = f (t) > 0. This means that C is traversed once, from left to right, as t increases from to
and f () = a, f () = b. Putting Formula 1 into Formula 2 and using the Substitution Rule, we obtain
s
s
 2

2
Z b
Z
dy
dy/dt dx
L=
1+
1+
dt
dx =
dx
dx/dt dt
a

Since dx/dt > 0, we have

L=

s

dx
dt

2

dy
dt

2

dt

(3)

Section 9.2 Calculus with Parametric Curves

Even if C cant be expressed in the form y = F (x), Formula 3 is still valid but we obtain it by polygonal approximations. We divide the parameter interval [, ] into n subintervals of equal width t. If
t0 , t1 , t2 , . . . , tn are the endpoints of these subintervals, then xi = f (ti ) and yi = g(ti) are the coordinates
of points Pi (xi , yi) that lie on C and the polygon with vertices P0 , P1 , . . . , Pn approximates C.

As in Section 7.4, we define the length L of C to be the limit of the lengths of these approximating polygons
as n :
n
X
L = lim
|Pi1 Pi |
n

i=1

The Mean Value Theorem, when applied to f on the interval [ti1 , ti ], gives a number ti in (ti1 , ti ) such
that
f (ti ) f (ti1 ) = f (ti )(ti ti1 )
If we let xi = xi xi1 and yi = yi yi1 , this equation becomes
xi = f (ti )t
Similarly, when applied to g, the Mean Value Theorem gives a number t
i in (ti1 , ti ) such that
yi = g (t
i )t
Therefore
|Pi1 Pi | =
and so

(xi )2 + (yi )2 =

p
p
2 =
2
[f (ti )t]2 + [g (t
)t]
[f (ti )]2 + [g (t
i
i )] t

L = lim

n
X
p

2
[f (ti )]2 + [g (t
i )] t

(4)

i=1

p
The sum in (4) resembles a Riemann sum for the function [f (t)]2 + [g (t)]2 but it is not exactly a

Riemann sum because ti 6= t

i in general. Nevertheless, if f and g are continuous, it can be shown that

the limit in (4) is the same as if ti and ti were equal, namely,

L=

p
[f (t)]2 + [g (t)]2 dt

Thus, using Leibniz notation, we have the following result, which has the same form as (3).

Section 9.2 Calculus with Parametric Curves

THEOREM: If a curve C is described by the parametric equations x = f (t), y = g(t), t , where f

and g are continuous on [, ] and C is traversed exactly once as t increases from to , then the length
of C is
s
Z  2  2
dy
dx
L=
+
dt
dt
dt

Notice that the formula in this Theorem is consistent with the general formulas
Z
L = ds and (ds)2 = (dx)2 + (dy)2
of Section 7.4.
EXAMPLE 4: If we use the representation of the unit circle
x = cos t,

y = sin t 0 t 2

then dx/dt = sin t and dy/dt = cos t, so the above Theorem gives
s
Z 2
Z 2  2  2
Z 2 p
dy
dx
2
2
sin t + cos tdt =
dt = 2
L=
+
dt =
dt
dt
0
0
0
as expected. If, on the other hand, we use the representation
x = sin 2t,

y = cos 2t 0 t 2

then dx/dt = 2 cos 2t, dy/dt = 2 sin 2t, and the integral in the above Theorem gives
s
Z 2  2  2
Z 2 p
Z 2
dx
dy
2
+
dt =
4 cos2 2t + 4 sin 2tdt =
2dt = 4
dt
dt
0
0
0
REMARK: Notice that the integral gives twice the arc length of the circle because as t increases from 0
to 2, the point (sin 2t, cos 2t) traverses the circle twice. In general, when finding the length of a curve
C from a parametric representation, we have to be careful to ensure that C is traversed only once as t
increases from to .
EXAMPLE 5: Find the length of one arch of the cycloid x = r( sin ), y = r(1 cos ).

Section 9.2 Calculus with Parametric Curves

EXAMPLE 5: Find the length of one arch of the cycloid x = r( sin ), y = r(1 cos ).

Solution: From Example 3 we see that one arch is described by the parameter interval 0 2. Since
dx
= r(1 cos ) and
d
we have
L =

Z
Z
Z

=r

2
0
2
0
2
0

s

dx
d

2

dy
d

dy
= r sin
d
2

r 2 (1 cos )2 + r 2 sin2 d

r 2 (1 2 cos + cos2 + sin2 )d

2(1 cos )d

1
To evaluate this integral we use the identity sin2 x = (1 cos 2x) with = 2x, which gives
2
1 cos = 2 sin2 (/2)
Since 0 2, we have 0 /2 and so sin(/2) 0. Therefore
q
p
2(1 cos ) = 4 sin2 (/2) = 2| sin(/2)| = 2 sin(/2)

and so

L = 2r

sin(/2)d = 2r[2 cos(/2)]2

0 = 2r[2 + 2] = 8r
0

EXAMPLE 6: Find the length of the astroid x = cos3 t, y = sin3 t, 0 t 2.

Section 9.2 Calculus with Parametric Curves

EXAMPLE 6: Find the length of the astroid x = cos3 t, y = sin3 t, 0 t 2.

Solution: Since

dy
= 3 sin2 t cos t
dt

dx
= 3 cos2 t( sin t) and
dt

we have
Z

/2
0

s

dx
dt

2

dy
dt

2

dt =

=
It follows that

Z
Z
Z
Z
Z

/2
0
/2
0
/2
0

9 cos4 t sin2 t + 9 sin4 t cos2 tdt

9 sin2 t cos2 t(cos2 t + sin2 t)dt

9 sin2 t cos2 tdt

/2

|3 sin t cos t|dt

0
/2
0

1
Z 1
sin t = u
3u2
3

3 sin t cos tdt = d(sin t) = du =

3udu =
=
2 0 2
0
cos tdt = du

Length of first-quadrant portion =

Therefore the length of the astroid is four times this: 4

/2

s

3
= 6.
2

dx
dt

2

dy
dt

2

dt =

3
2