Geometrical concept addressed by integral calculus .
Methods for calculating exact lengths of line segments and arcs of circles have been known since ancient times. coordinate systems ) of points and measurements of angles. Calculus provided a way to find the length of a curve by breaking it into smaller and smaller line segments or arcs of circles. The exact value of a curve's length is found by combining such a process with the idea of a {{link=limit">limit . The entire procedure is summarized by a formula involving the integral of the function describing the curve.