National Taiwan University - Calculus 3 for Class 01-12

Worksheet 1 : Introduction to Space Curves

Name: 陳泓 睿 ID: B 11505026 Department: ESOE

Reference : Stewart §13.1, 13.2, 13.3

In this worksheet, we give an introduction to curves by extending what we had seen in a 2D scenario to the 3D space.
Firstly let’s recall and agree on some notations about vectors.

Agreement and notations

A vector in R3 is denoted by v = ha, b, ci.

• Standard basis. i = h1, 0, 0i, j = h0, 1, 0i, k = h0, 0, 1i
• Dot product. ha, b, ci • hd, e, f i = ad + be + cf
i j k
• Cross product. ha, b, ci ⇥ hd, e, f i = a b c = (bf ec)i (af cd)j + (ae bd)k
d e f
p
• Norm/Length/Absolute value. ||ha, b, ci|| = a 2 + b2 + c 2
Introduction to Space Curves. In MATH4007, we described curves on xy-plane (aka a 2D coordinate system)
by a parametrization. For example, a parametrization of the unit circle x2 + y 2 = 1 is given by
8
<x(t) = cos t
, 0  t  2⇡.
:y(t) = sin t

It turns out that curves in 3D are simply defined by a parametrization.

Definition. A space curve (curve in 3D space) is defined by a parametrization

8
>
> x = f (t)
>
<
y = g(t) , t 2 D ✓ R.
>
>
>
:z = h(t)
where f (t), g(t), h(t) are continuous functions.

Vector-valued functions.
An alternative way to write down a parametrization is to rewrite it as a vector-valued function. For example,
we may rewrite the above space curve as either r(t) = hf (t), g(t), h(t)i or r(t) = f (t) i+g(t) j+h(t) k, with t 2 D ✓ R.

Example.
A helix is a space curve described by the parametrization

r(t) = hcos t, sin t, ti, t 2 R.

o_O ,
Exercise 1 (a). Find a parametrization of the portion of the straight line that connects (1, 2, 3) and (4, 5, 6).

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A natural way that space curves arise is by intersecting two surfaces. For example,
if you intersect two (non-parallel) planes in 3D space, you obtain a straight line.

Exercise 1 (b). Parametrize the straight line that is given by the intersection of the planes x + y + z = 1 and
x + 2y + 3z = 4.
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Exercise 1 (c). Parametrize the curve which is the intersection of the surfaces x2 + y 2 = 1 and z = x. Sketch the
surfaces and the curve.

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2
Derivatives of space curves. If each of the components of a space curve is di↵erentiable, we are going to (as we
can) define and study its component-wise derivative : Let r(t) = f (t)i + g(t)j + h(t)k be a space curve. Then its
derivative is define to be the vector
r(t + h) r(t)
r0 (t) = lim = f 0 (t)i + g 0 (t)j + h0 (t)k
h!0 h

Geometry and physics of derivatives.

Geometrically, r0 (t) is a tangent vector to the curve at the point
that corresponds to the value t. In physics, a space curve r(t) is
interpreted as the position of a particle. In this way, we can inter-
pret r0 (t), ||r0 (t)|| and r00 (t) as the velocity, speed and acceleration
of the particle respectively.

Unit tangent vector.

The concept of a ‘tangent vector’ is not very satisfying because it is not uniquely defined (because we can always
make a vector longer or shorter, despite pointing at the same direction). Therefore, it will be convenient for us to
specify ‘the’ tangent vector of a specific length. Of course, the most convenient one is the one of length 1.

Definition.
Let r(t) = f (t)i + g(t)j + h(t)k be a space curve. The unit tangent vector T(t) is the tangent vector of length 1 :
r0 (t)
T(t) = .
||r0 (t)||
✓ ◆
1 1 ⇡
Exercise 2. Find the unit tangent vector of the helix r(t) = hcos t, sin t, ti, t 2 R, at the point p ,p , .
2 2 4
īcti
管

ritFC-smt.cat/1)lritl=J2jTct)-E.l-smt,ast,i)t-EjT(f1=E-I E. l)=H.lE)
, ,

The dot and cross products of vectors respectively give rise to two new ‘product rules’ of di↵erentiation of space curves.
Product rules. The dot and cross products of vectors respectively give rise to two new ‘product rules’ of di↵eren-
tiation of space curves. To be specific, let u(t) and v(t) be two space curves. Then the following are valid.
0
(1) (u(t) • v(t)) = u0 (t) • v(t) + u(t) • v0 (t),
0
(2) (u(t) ⇥ v(t)) = u0 (t) ⇥ v(t) + u(t) ⇥ v0 (t),
Exercise 3. Prove the product rule (1).

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 Exercise 4. Let v(t), t 2 R be a vector-valued function on R3 such that ||v(t)|| = c for some constant c. Prove that
the vectors v(t) and v0 (t) are perpendicular to each other.
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Exercise 5. Consider the helix r(t) = hcos t, sin t, ti, t 2 R. Find the value of ||r0 (t) ⇥ r00 (t)||.

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Arc lengths revisited.

Let r(t) = x(t)i + y(t)j + z(t)k be a space curve C.
(1) The arc length of the portion of C for a  t  b equals to
s
Z b Z b ✓ ◆ 2 ✓ ◆2 ✓ ◆2
dx dy dz
s= ||r0 (t)|| dt = + + dt.
a a dt dt dt
(2) Having fixed a starting point t = a, the arc length function of C is defined to be
Z t
s(t) = ||r0 (u)|| du.
a
Exercise 6. Find the arc length function of the helix r(t) = hcos t, sin t, ti, t 2 R, starting from (1, 0, 0).
七

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4
Optional materials for Class 06-12.
Curvature.
Now we study the ‘curvature’ of a curve, which is a measurement of how ‘curved’ the given curve is.

Motivations. We first motivate how the curvature should be defined. Its definition should match with our intuition
in simple special cases.
(1) A straight line is not ‘curved’ at all so it should have 0 curvature.
(2) A larger circle is less curved than a smaller one.

A reasonable approach is to define curvature as the rate of change of the unit tangent vector T0 (t) (then a straight
line whose tangent is a constant would have zero curvature). However, this does not help us to distinguish circles of
di↵erent sizes. Instead, we should look at the change of the unit tangent vector with respect to each unit change in
arc length. Combining these intuitions gives us the following definition.

Definition. The curvature  of a space curve is defined to be the rate of change of its unit tangent vector
T with respect to the arc length s. i.e.
=
dT/dt
ds/dt
=
||T0 (t)||
||r0 (t)||
. 以
Exercise 7. Let R > 0. Find the curvature of the circle x2 + y 2 = R2 on the xy-plane.
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A convenient formula of curvature.

Sometimes the computation of T0 (t) can be nasty so we record here a more explicit (sometimes more convenient)
formula for the curvature.

||r00 ⇥ r0 ||
Theorem. Let r(t) be a space curve such that ||r0 (t)|| =
6 0. Then  = .
||r0 ||3
Exercise 8. Find the curvature of the space curve r(t) = t2 i + tk, t 2 R, at the point (1, 0, 1).

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= c
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Exercise 9. Consider the curve y = f (x) on the xy-plane. Prove that its curvature equals
|f 00 (t)|
= 3 .
(1 + (f 0 (t))2 ) 2

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Optional Exercises

Optional Exercise 1. Prove the product rule (2).

||r00 ⇥ r0 ||
Optional Exercise 2. Derive the formula  = .
||r0 ||3

Optional Exercise 3. Consider the curve r(t) = (t2 + 3t)i + (t3 4t + 1)j with t  0 on the xy-plane. This curve
2
is connected with the portion of y = ax + bx + c for x 0 at the point (0, 1) (See figure).

(1) It is known that the resulting curve is continuous. Find c.

(2) It is known that the resulting curve has a continuous unit tangent vector. Find b.
(3) It is known that the resulting curve has a continuous curvature. Find a.