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Jochen Denzler, Andreas Hinz:
       Catenaria vera -- the true catenary.
       Expositiones Mathematicae 17 (1999), 117-142

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    We give an explicit solution of the
    catenary problem in a $-1/r$ potential, including full discussion of the
    boundary value problem arising and of the existence question (which is more
    delicate than in other classical variational problems and is therefore
    somewhat 
    neglected in the textbooks even for the classical catenary). Numerical
    examples illustrate the results. While
    reviewing some history, we also attempt a style that makes the discussion
    feasible for teaching purposes, in particular by bridging the gap between
    classical textbooks and the more modern tools. The appearance of the
    logarithmic spiral as a solution is a nice surprise in addition.  Our
    existence proof by direct methods, enhanced with a priori estimates,
    generalizes to other central potentials.  

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