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Preliminaries
The circumference C of an ellipse must be computed using calculus. To do this, we set up
a Cartesian coordinate system. We put the origin at the center of the ellipse, the x-axis
along the major axis, whose length is 2a, and the y-axis along the minor axis, whose
length is 2b. The eccentricity e is defined by
0 <= e = sqrt(a2-b2)/a < 1.
Then the equation of the ellipse is
x2/a2 + y2/b2 = 1, a >= b > 0.
Now the formula for computing the arc length of any curve given by the parametric
equations x = f(t), y = g(t), over the range c <= t <= d is
d
s = INTEGRAL sqrt[(dx/dt)2+(dy/dt)2] dt.
c
Derivation
C = 4aE( /2,e).
Evaluation
This integral can be evaluated numerically, of course. Another way to compute its value
is using an infinite series. Set
x = (a-b)/(a+b).
Then
infinity
C = (a+b)(1 + SUM [(2n-2)!/(n![n-1]!22n-1)]2x2n),
n=1
C = (a+b)(1 + x2/4
+ x4/64
+ x6/256
+ 25x8/16384 + ...).
This series converges pretty rapidly, especially when x is small, that is, when a and b are
close together, that is, when e is small.
Example
= 21 (1 + 0.045918367
+ 0.000527124
+ 0.000024205
+ 0.000001737
+ 0.000000156 + ...),
= 21(3.1415926536)(1.046471589),
= 69.039336580,
approximately. With six terms, we get 7 significant figures of accuracy for this value of x
(the correct answer being 69.03933778699452855...), even though a and b are not close
together (and e = 0.916515... is not very small).
Approximation
The idea seems to be to use 2 r, but for r use the root-mean-square of the semi-major and
semi-minor axes. Then a > r > b, so one shouldn't be too far off.
In fact,
C ~~ (sqrt[(a2+b2)/2] + [a+b]/2),
= (a+b)(1 + x2/4 - x4/16 + ...),
which agrees in both first and second order terms. If x4/16 is negligibly small, then this
gives right answers, whereas the original approximation does only if x2/4 is negligible.
A short search of the Dr. Math archives turned up the following approximation due to
Ramanujan:
C ~~ (3a + 3b - sqrt[(a+3b)(b+3a)])
However, in the same paper [Ramanujan, S., "Modular Equations and Approximations to
," Quart. J. Pure. Appl. Math., vol. 45 (1913-1914), pp. 350-372], he gives another, even
better approximation:
C ~~ (a+b)(1+3x2/[10+sqrt(4-3x2)])
which has a relative error of about (3/217)x10 for small values of x, since this function has
series expansion
(a+b)(1 + x2/4
+ x4/64
+ x6/256
+ 25x8/16384
+ 95x10/131072 + ...),
agreeing with the actual series for C through terms of the fifth order, and even having
sixth order term close to right!
For a relatively compact formula, this is clearly the winner, although it's rarely clear how
Ramanujan derived his formulas. Anyone interested enough to read this far would
probably greatly enjoy taking a detour to read about his fascinating life and contributions
to mathematics in the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive.