Next: Finding the vector Up: Analytical Interpretation of Line Previous: Analytical Interpretation of Line

Oriented curves

We start our journey with the curve C parameterized by

equation26

with the parameter t ranging in value from a to b (ie. tex2html_wrap_inline314 .) The curve is now said to be oriented since we have a definite direction of travel along C. Next, for those destructive gremlins out there, break the curve up into N segements. The image below shows the curve broken into N = 5 pieces.



At each of the N + 1 points we need to compute two things: the tangent vector tex2html_wrap_inline270 and the vector field, tex2html_wrap_inline266 .



Vector Calculus
Sun Jul 27 11:36:39 MST 1997