A new solution of the discrete catenary problem

We address the very old and famous catenary problem. However, instead of competing with a flexible and continuous chain, we consider a discrete chain made of N identical links. By using the elementary tools of Newtonian mechanics, we show that there is a simple relation between the angles of the links' slope that enable us to find the N discrete chain solution. We also investigate the limit of the continuous chain and show that the discrete solution converges into the well-known classical solution of the catenary problem. The advantage of this new method is that it better enables the attainment of a physical insight into the problem in a quite simple way, without using advanced mathematics.