A Characteristic Averaging Property of the Catenary

Authors

Vincent Coll, Lehigh University
Jeff Dodd, Jacksonville State UniversityFollow

Department

Mathematical, Computing & Information Sciences

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2016

Abstract

It is well-known that the catenary is characterized by an extremal centroidal condition: It is the shape of the curve whose centroid is the lowest among all curves having a prescribed length and specified endpoints. Here, we establish a broad characteristic averaging property of the centenary that yields two new centroidal characterizations.

Publication/Presentation Information

American Mathematical Monthly, Volume 123, Issue 7, 683 - 688

Recommended Citation

Vincent Coll & Jeff Dodd (2016) A Characteristic Averaging Property of the Catenary, The American Mathematical Monthly, 123:7, 683-688, DOI: 10.4169/amer.math.monthly.123.7.683