definition of length of non-rectifiable curves

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Following the usual definition of length of a curve, the curve have to be rectifiable to have finite length. However for example the curve

$ \gamma \colon [0,1] \to \mathbb{R}, t \to t \cos^2(\pi/t) $

is not rectifiable. However I would say it makes perfectly sense to say it has length $1$.

So my question is, if there is a more general definition of length of a curve such that my example above has length $1$ (however such that for example the graph of the function $\gamma$ above has infinite length).

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You have to distinguish between the ${\it curve}$, i.e., an equivalence class of maps $f:\ [0,1]\to {\mathbb R}^n$, and its "trace", i.e., the ${\it set}$ $f\bigl([0,1]\bigr)\subset{\mathbb R}^n$. If you declare your curve $\gamma$ to have length $1$ you would have to assign a twice surrounded circle the length $2\pi$. In this example the length of the "trace" is indeed still $2\pi$, but the length of the actual curve is $4\pi$.

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The length of a curve is one of the simplest examples of a geometric quantity, that is, something which is invariant under reparametrisations. You can (and should) check that the usual notion of length is invariant under reparametrisations.

Your idea of length is certainly not invariant under reparametrisations, and so intuitively it is rejected as unnatural.