# On Arc Length

Originally published: 2012-08-11
Canonical URL: /2012/Aug/on-arc-length/

Zeno knew, but did not know enough; a minute is divided  
Into fragments, and each fragment sees, for points it o'er presided:  
A small change, of which I take the distance  
Along each fragment's lost existence:  
The root of the sum of the squares  
Of the length and the width and the height  
Of the change in the range as the fragment is spanned  
As the fragment is stricken from sight!