A barn is 100 ft long and 40 feet wide. A cross section of the roof is the inverted catenary
y=31-10(e^x/20+e^-x/20). Find the number of square feet of roofing of the barn.
I assume roofing of the barn is length of catenary * wide of the barn:
f(x)=y=31−10⋅(ex20+e−x20)|(ex20+e−x20)=2⋅cosh(x20)=31−10⋅[2⋅cosh(x20)]f(x)=31−20⋅cosh(x20)f′(x)=−20⋅sinh(x20)⋅120f′(x)=−sinh(x20)[f′(x)]2=sinh2(x20)
The graph of the function f(x):

The length L of the catenary is:
L=50∫−50√1+[f′(x)]2 dx=50∫−50√1+sinh2(x20) dx|1+sinh2(x20)=cosh2(x20)=50∫−50√cosh2(x20) dx=50∫−50cosh(x20) dx=[ 20⋅sinh(x20) ]50−50=20⋅[ sinh(x20) ]50−50=20⋅[ sinh(5020)−sinh(−5020) ]=20⋅[ sinh(2.5)−sinh(−2.5) ]=20⋅[ sinh(2.5)+sinh(2.5) ]=20⋅2⋅sinh(2.5)=40⋅sinh(2.5)=40⋅6.0502044810397875=242.0081792415915 feet
The number of square feet of roofing of the barn is:
242.0081792415915 feet×40feet=9680.32716964 square feet
