Description: This simulation shows the length of a curve that is drawn through points via polynomial and spline interpolation.
Keywords: length of curves, spline interpolation, polynomial interpolation, path integral.
Learning Objectives: After successful completion of running the simulation with proper questions asked by the instructor, the student would be able to 1) note that path lengths can differ substantially on which type of curves are used for interpolation, 2) show that higher-order interpolation is a bad idea.
Full Resources: The full resources for the topic of length of curves are given here.
Software Requirements: Latest versions of Safari, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Google Chrome.
Credits: Design Team: Autar Kaw. Software development: Mayank Pandey and Autar Kaw.
We acknowledge the immense help of the Phet Google group, third party libraries: almond-0.2.9.js, easing-equations-r12,FileSaver-b8054a2.js, fontawesome-webfont-3.0.2.svg, jama-1.0.2, jquery-2.1.0.js, lodash-2.4.1.js, pegjs-0.7.0.js, seedrandom-2.4.2.js, text-2.0.12.js, Tween-r12.js
Acknowledgments: This material is based upon work supported partially by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 2013271. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
All Simulations: Here is the link for all the simulations developed.