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NEITHER A TRACTOR, NOR A MATRIX BUT A TRACTRIX!

Susan Steyn
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria.
INTRODUCTION
When Gottfried Leibniz was inventing Calculus in 1676 and Jan van Riebeeck dreaming
of wine at future Stellenbosch, a French doctor, Claude Perrault (1613 1688) placed his
watch in the middle of the table at a meeting in Paris and pulled the end of the long watch
chain along the edge of the table. Perrault showed that when he moved the end of the
watch chain along a straight line, perpendicular to the starting point, the watch was
dragged along a certain curve. He asked : What is the shape of the curve traced by the
watch? or in other words the question would arise what is the path of a small weight
starting off with a horizontal offset when it is dragged or pulled along by a string of
constant length, say b, being pulled steadily along a straight vertical line perpendicular to
the original position. The starting point of the curve is say (b;0). The line along which the
chain is pulled is called the directrix. The motion of a replica of Perraults watch could be
seen in the following pictures.

The curve can also be described as the path of a toy or dog being pulled by a string of
constant length by a young child walking along a fixed straight line. The toy is initially
on a line perpendicular to the directrix. As the child keeps on walking further along the
directrix the curve approaches the y-axis asymptotically. The following diagram shows
the path that the dog or toy follows. The curve starts on the x-axis and proceeds towards
the directrix asymptotically as seen in Figure 1.

path of master

path of dog
master
leash
dog
Figure 1
This curve is also demonstrated by the following practical example. Suppose a bicycle is
heading west with its front wheel at the origin in position (0;0). If the back wheel is on
the x-axis in position (b;0) and the cyclist makes an abrupt 90 degrees turn towards the
north. The track traced by the back wheel takes on the same curve as the dog on its leash
as can be seen in the following pictures. The path of the back wheel of a miniature
motorbike is depicted.
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In fact the above-mentioned curve had already been recognized and its equation derived
by Sir Isaac Newton. It is said that this example was the first curve that had been
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determined by the process of integration. Therefore any tertiary student in Mathematics

should get acquainted with this mathematical phenomenon. Euler treated the problem a
century later by deriving equations for the case in which the directrix was a circle in stead
of a straight line. In this paper however, the directrix as a straight line only, will be
considered. The curve is demonstrated by the following Derive diagram drawn for b = 3.

Figure 2
The vertical axis y serves as an asymptote to the curve. It should be emphasized to
students that this graph should not be confused by the ordinary hyperbola function where
k
y = ; k > 0 with the x-axis as well as the y-axis as asymptotes. The negative
x
exponential function y = ae dx ; a, d > 0 differs from the graph drawn above, because in it
the x-axis is an asymptote with the y-intercept at a.
TRACTRIX

In 1692 Christiaan Huygens also stated the problem just in other words: Given an
inextensible string, moving in a straight line dragging an object. What then is the path of
that object? Huygens gave the curve the name of the tractrix. A tractor is a vehicle that
follows a certain path and a matrix is a set of numbers or elements arranged in a specific
order. A tractrix is a combination of the two, namely a set of numbers following a certain
path. The tractrix then is the curve traced by one end of a rod when the other end is
dragged along a line perpendicular to the initial position of the rod. Leibniz, Johann
Bernoulli, Liouville and Beltrami also studied the curve.
NAMES

Because of the dragging quality the curve has been given the names of drag curve from
the Latin trahere, to drag, with the root tractus meaning that which is pulled or dragged
along. In German it is called Schleppkurve or hundkurve, the hound curve. This name is
obvious if mans best friend is taken by its owner for a walk on a leash. Some big dogs
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take their masters for a walk and then the tractrix is formed by the person who is dragged
along! In French it is called: courbe de lane. It is also called the donkey curve or
trajectory curve. Among the significant properties of the tractrix is the fact that the length
of a tangent from any point on the curve to the asymptote or directrix is constant, also
leading to its alternative name of equitangential curve, a curve with equal tangents.
AN ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION

Perraults question would today be called an ordinary differential equation or initial value
problem. In 1693 Huygens solved the mentioned differential equation and gave the
solution in a letter to a friend namely Henry Basnage de Beauval. In this paper guidelines
and the accompanying solutions are given how to introduce the tractrix curve to
elementary mathematics students in a first or second year Calculus course at tertiary
level. A general problem in the teaching of Mathematics at all ages today is that students
get bored with the abstract content of the subject. Some graphs, like the hyperbola and
parabola are used as examples to scholars from grade nine upwards over and over again.
Up to now the tractrix graph has been neglected in the teaching of Mathematics. Not
many textbooks even refer to the tractrix graph at all. Students would be fascinated much
more by Mathematics as subject if they could experience mathematical examples hands
on. The variety of Mathematics content involved in the tractrix curve could play a vital
role in this regard. It can be introduced to students as an example of an implied
exponential or hyperbolic graph.
It is taught to students in any lower Calculus course that the gradient of a tangent to a
graph y = f (x) can be expressed as a derivative. If the above-mentioned differential
equation is considered, the tangent of the tractrix, namely the watch chain of constant
length, in the presence of moderate friction on the surface of the table can be expressed
geometrically as
dy b 2 x 2
(1)
=
x
dx
with b the length of the watch chain as the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle and x the
horizontal coordinate as in figure 4. In Germany the above-mentioned differential
equation is called the Leibniz ODE (ordinary differential equation).

b
b x
2

x
Figure 3
The solution y of this ODE is the vertical coordinate of the position of the watch or
trajectory of the watch pulled vertically from its chain, namely the tractrix curve. To

solve this ODE students taking engineering mathematics at any tertiary institution should
know that the right hand side of the differential equation should be integrated with initial
condition y = 0 at x = b or y(b) = 0. There is more than one way of solving the abovementioned integral. To solve such an integral, a trigonometric substitution could be used.
x
In this case, firstly let x = b sin , an ordinary trigonometric function then = arcsin( )
b
and subsequently dx = b cos d .
Now, if

dy b 2 x 2
b2 x 2
, then y =
dx
=
x
x
dx

But

b 2 x 2 = b 2 b 2 sin 2
= b cos
therefore,

y =

b cos
b cos d
b sin

= b

cos 2
d
sin

= b

1 sin 2
d
sin

= b (cosec sin )d
= b An (cosec cot ) b cos + c
b
b2 x 2
b2 x 2
From Figure 3, cosec = , cot =
and cos =
x
x
b
Therefore
b
b2 x2
) b2 x 2 + c
y = bAn(
x
x
But for the starting point y (b) = 0 c = 0
b
b2 x 2
(2)
and the particular solution y = bAn(
) b2 x2
x
x
Similarly the substitution x = b cos could be applied to the tractrix ODE with the same
results as in (2). An alternative hyperbolic trigonometric substitution could be used to
solve differential equation (1).
x
Let x = bsech , then = arg sech ( ) and subsequently dx = bsech tanh d .
b
2
2
b x
For y =
dx ,
x
b 2 x 2 = b 2 b 2 sec h 2
= b tanh

(3)

b2 x2
so that y =
dx
x
b tanh
=
(b sec h tanh d )
b sec h

= b tanh 2 d

= b (1 sec h 2 )d
= b b tanh + c

x
From (3) it follows that y = b arg sec h( ) b 2 x 2 + c
b
With initial condition y (b) = 0 c = 0
x
and y = b arg sec h( ) b 2 x 2
b
At first sight the solution (4) looks much different from solution (2).

(4)

b
b2 x2
But if k = An(
) from (2), then
x
x

ek =

b
b2 x2

x
x

b
b2 x2
=
x
x
2
b
b x2
(e k ) 2 =
x
x2
b b2 b2
e 2 k 2e k + 2 = 2 1
x x
x
b
1
2
ek : ek + k =
e
x
2b
ek + e x =
x
k
x
b e +e
=
= cosh k
2
x
x
2
and = k
= sech k
b e + e k
x
x
Therefore k = argsech ( ) and hence y = b arg sech ( ) b 2 x 2
b
b
This has proved (2) and (4) different forms of the same solution.
An interesting fact occurs with logarithms when one plays around with it as follows:
ek

b
b2 x2
Let m = An( +
),
x
x

(5)

b + b2 x2
= An (
)
x
b + b2 x 2 b b2 x2
= An (

)
x
b b2 x2
b2 b2 + x2
= An (
)
x(b b 2 x 2 )
x
= An (
)
b b2 x2

= An (
= An (

b b 2 x 2 1
)
x

b b2 x2
)
x

b
b2 x2
= An (
)
x
x
This explains why the solution to the original differential equation can be expressed in
the following three forms:
b
b2 x2
(2)
y = b 2 x 2 bAn(
)
x
x
b
b2 x2
(6)
y = b 2 x 2 + bAn ( +
)
x
x
x
y = b 2 x 2 + b arg sec h( )
(4)
b
Students could practice their differentiation skills with these three solutions to see if the
original ODE could be determined. If students have explored these different solutions
they would know their logarithmic, differentiation, integration and hyperbolic
trigonometric identity rules well. The above determined solutions of the tractrix can be
plotted in CAS (Computer Algebra Systems) like Derive, Matlab, Mathematica or Excel.
Different values of the tangent namely b could be explored.
PARAMETRIC FUNCTIONS

A parameterization of the tractrix for b = 1 is as follows:

1
x=
= sech t ; y = t tanh t
cosh t
dx
dy
= sech t tanh t ;
= t tanh t
then
dt
dt
Students could test their parametric skills by proving that these parametric functions
satisfy the ODE (1) as follows:

dy
dy dt
=
dx dx
dt
1 sech 2t
=
secht tanh t
tanh 2 t
=
secht tanh t
tanh t
=
secht
=
=

1 sech 2t
- secht
1 x2
x

satifying the ODE (1) with b = 1.

AREA
From (1)

dy b 2 x 2
it follows that xdy = b 2 x 2 dx. The area of the region
=
dx
x

between the tractrix curve and the y-axis is represented by

xdy . If the circle

x 2 + y 2 = b 2 with a radius of b is considered, it follows that b 2 x 2 is a lower-half

circle with half its area equal to

the tractrix curve and the y-axis is

b 2 x 2 dx =

b 2

b 2
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units2. Therefore the area between

units2, a constant or finite value only dependent

2
on b. This area would be a good application where the Trapezium rule and Simpsons
rule could be applied by making use of numerical methods and comparing the results
with several strips.
INTEGRATION APPLICATIONS

The following applications of integration usually included in a second year Calculus

course can be introduced with good results to the tractric curve, namely the average value
and the length of the curve between two points. The latter arc length between the points,
say c and d on the tractrix curve can be determined as follows:

l=

dy
1 + dx
dx

b2 x2
1+

1+

dx for the tractrix ODE (1)

b2 x2
dx
x2
2

x2 + b2 x2
dx
x2

b
dx
c x
= bAnd bAnc
d
= bAn
c
an interesting finite value with b the offset point of the tractrix on the x-axis.
=

Results can be checked by use of CAS (Computer algebra systems). Numerical methods
to solve ODEs namely the Euler method, the Heun (or Improved Euler) method and the
Runge Kutta method can be applied to the tractrix ODE and compared to the analytical
answers by graphing the different solutions. Subsequently the percentage error of the
numerical methods could be determined.
CONCLUSION

Although the tractrix curve is useful as a practical example of an ODE, it is relatively

unknown to present Mathematics syllabi. It is suggested that it should be included in an
elementary Mathematics course at tertiary level, because so many topics discussed in
Calculus above are involved in the investigation of the tractrix curve. The following
concepts are covered: logarithms, exponential functions, hyperbolic functions and
inverses, identities, differentiation, integration, trigonometric substitution, parametric
functions, area, average value and many more. Computer algebra systems (CAS) are the
ideal tools to use when introducing these functions to students. Students learn best when
they are actively engaged in the learning process and therefore a connection to the
students world must be seeked in the teaching of Mathematics, where they are
participants and not listeners only. The topic of the tractrix curve can be given to the
students as an assignment to discuss in groups with the results of active social interactive
learning between them. It is a hands-on practical example, that everybody can identify
with because each and every student has taken his best friend for a walk at some or other
stage!

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REFERENCES

[1] Cady W.G. (1965). The Circular Tractrix. American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 72.,
No. 10, pp. 1065 1071.
[2] Stroud K.A. (1995). Engineering Mathematics. 4th ed. Great Britain: Macmillan Press
Ltd.
[3] Swetz F., Fauvel J., Bekken O., Johansson B. and Katz V. My favourite ways of using
history in teaching calculus. Learn from the Masters, p. 126 129. Mathematical
Association of America.
[4] Yates R.C. (1959). The catenary and the Tractrix, Amercian Mathematical Monthly,
Vol. 66., no. 6, p.500 505, June 1959.
[5] Trajectory of a pocket watch Tractrix. Online:
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Curves/Tractrix.html
[6] Weisstein, E W. Tractrix. MathWorld A Wolfram Web Resource. Online:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Tractrix.html.

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