Imagine a flexible steel chain, attached firmly at equal height at both ends, hanging under its own weight (see Figure 3.1). What shape will it describe as it hangs?
Figure3.1The hanging chain.
This is a classical problem of mechanical engineering, and its analytical solution involves calculus, elementary physics, and differential equations. We describe it here.
We analyze a portion of the chain between points A and B, as shown in Figure 3.2, where ...
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