Arc Length Calculator
Arc length is defined as the length of a given curve. To calculate this length we first approximate the curve in question by many line segments and adding the length of these. The more line segments we add the better our approximation. The actual formula for arc length is obtained by taking a limit of this process. In this applet you can explore the definition of arc length and its approximation visually.
Applet Instructions:
Above is the graph of a function f(x). You can change which function to graph by typing in the input box at the top right.
We are only calculating the length of a section (or arc) of the graph, from x = A to x = B. You can change these values by dragging the points A and B along the x-axis.
N tracks the number of line segments used in the approximation. You can change N by dragging the slider.
Clicking the checkbox will show the actual arc length of f(x) from A to B.