84 



STATICS OF SYSTEMS OF PAKTICLES 



the value of cosh - becomes approximately ^ e c , and the equation 







of the catenary (equation (26)) becomes 



Thus for large values of x the catenary coincides with the 

 exponential curve. 



Fig. 44 shows the form of the catenary. The thin curves are 



(a) the parabola, to which the catenary approximates for small 

 values of x; 



(b) the exponential curve, to which the catenary approximates 

 for large values of x. 



