Perimeter of an ellipse

Gilles Cazelais

Consider an ellipse of equation

x2 y2
2
+ 2 =1
a b
where we assume that 0 < b < a.
y

b
x
a

It is easy to derive that the area of the ellipse is given by A = ab. Unfortunately there is no simple
formula for the perimeter of an ellipse. We will show that it can be evaluated using an infinite series.

The ellipse can be represented by the parametric equations

x = a cos and y = b sin , 0 2.

To find the perimeter of the ellipse, it is sufficient to find the perimeter in the first quadrant and
multiply it by four. The perimeter of the ellipse is then given by
s
Z /2  2  2
dx dy
p=4 + d
0 d d
Z /2 p
=4 a2 sin2 + b2 cos2 d
0
Z /2 p
=4 a2 (1 cos2 ) + b2 cos2 d
0
Z /2 p
=4 a2 (a2 b2 ) cos2 d
0
Z /2 p
= 4a 1 2 cos2 d.
0
p
Where = 1 b2 /a2 is the eccentricity of the ellipse. This integral is called an elliptic integral
and it cant be evaluated using elementary functions.

From the binomial formula

k(k 1) 2 k(k 1)(k 2) 3
(1 + x)k = 1 + kx + x + x + , 1 < x < 1
2! 3!
we can derive by letting k = 1/2 that

x X (1)n+1 1 3 5 (2n 3)xn
1+x=1+ + .
2 n=2 2n n!

1
By setting x = 2 cos2 , we deduce that

p 2 cos2 X 1 3 5 (2n 3)2n cos2n
1 2 cos2 = 1 .
2 n=2
2n n!

Note that this series converges for all since 0 2 cos2 < 1. By integrating termwise this series,
we can find the perimeter of the ellipse.

Z /2 !
2 cos2 X 1 3 5 (2n 3)2n cos2n
p = 4a 1 d
0 2 n=2
2n n!

Z /2 " #!
2 /2 1 3 5 (2n 3)2n /2
Z X Z
2 2n
= 4a d cos d cos d .
0 2 0 n=2
2n n! 0

These cosines integrals can be evaluated using Wallis formula

/2
2n 1 1 3 5 (2n 1)
Z
1 3 5
cos2n d = = , n = 1, 2, 3, . . .
0 2 4 6 2n 2 2n n! 2

By substitution in the above expression for p, we deduce

 !
2 1 (1 3 5 (2n 3)(2n 1) n )2
  X
p = 4a
2 2 2 2 n=2
(2n n!)2 (2n 1) 2

 2 " #!
2
2n
 
1 X 1 3 5 (2n 1)
= 2a 1 2
2 n=2
2 4 6 2n 2n 1

" #!
2
2n

X 1 3 5 (2n 1)
= 2a 1 .
n=1
2 4 6 2n 2n 1

More explicitly, we obtain the following formula.

 2 2  2 4  2 6  2 8 !
1 13 135 1357
p = 2a 1
2 1 24 3 246 5 2468 7

???
For example, lets use five terms in the above series to approximate the perimeter of the ellipse

x2 y2
+ = 1.
25 16
p
For this ellipse we have a = 5, b = 4, and = 1 b2 /a2 = 3/5. We then have
 2  2 4  2 6  2 8 !
1 2 13 135 1357
p 2a 1
2 24 3 246 5 2468 7
 2 2 !
2 2
(3/5)4 (3/5)6 (3/5)8
   
1 2 13 135 1357
2(5) 1 (3/5)
2 24 3 246 5 2468 7
28.36.

The ellipse has a perimeter of about 28.36 units.