Chapter 0

Part II
Review Chap 16 from Calculus
The Fundamental Theorem for Line Integrals

If we think of the gradient vector f of a function f of two or three

variables as a sort of derivative of f, then the following theorem can be
regarded as a version of the Fundamental
Theorem for line integrals.
Example 1
Find the work done by the gravitational field

in moving a particle with mass m from the point (3, 4, 12) to the point
(2, 2, 0) along a piecewise-smooth curve C.

Solution:
We know that F is a conservative vector field and, in fact,
F = f, where
Example 1 – Solution cont’d

Therefore, by Theorem 2, the work done is

W = C F  dr = C f  dr

= f(2, 2, 0) – f(3, 4, 12)

Independence of Path
Suppose C1 and C2 are two piecewise-smooth curves (which are called
paths) that have the same initial point A and terminal point B.

We know that, in general, C1 F  dr ≠ C2 F  dr. But one

implication of Theorem 2 is that

C1f  dr = C2f  dr

whenever f is continuous. In other words, the line integral of a

conservative vector field depends only on the initial point and terminal
point of a curve.
Independence of Path
In general, if F is a continuous vector field with domain D,
we say that the line integral C F  dr is independent of
path if
C1 F  dr = C2 F  dr

for any two paths C1 and C2 in D that have the same initial points and the
same terminal points. With this terminology we can say that
line integrals of conservative vector fields are independent of path.

A curve is called closed if its

terminal point coincides with
its initial point, that is,
r(b) = r(a). (See Figure 2.) A closed curve
Figure 2
Independence of Path
If C F  dr is independent of path in D and C is any closed path in D, we
can choose any two points A and B on C and regard C as being
composed of the path C1 from A to B followed by the path C2 from B to
A. (See Figure 3.)

Figure 3
Then

C F  dr = C1 F  dr + C2 F  dr = C1 F  dr – –C2 F  dr = 0

since C1 and –C2 have the same initial and terminal points.
Independence of Path
Then
0 = C F  dr = C1 F  dr + –C2 F  dr = C1 F  dr – C2 F  dr
and so C1 F  dr = C2 F  dr.

Thus we have proved the following theorem.

Since we know that the line integral of any conservative vector field F is
independent of path, it follows that

C F  dr = 0 for any closed path.

In above, we assume that D is open, which means that for every point P in D
there is a disk with center P that lies entirely in D. (So D doesn’t contain any of
its boundary points.) In addition, we assume that D is connected: this means
that any two points in D can be joined by a path that lies
in D.

Suppose it is known that F = P i + Q j is conservative, where P and Q have

continuous first-order partial derivatives. Then there is a function f such that
F = f, that is, and Clairaut’s Theorem
Example 2
Determine whether or not the vector field
F(x, y) = (x – y) i + (x – 2) j
is conservative.

Solution:
Let P(x, y) = x – y and Q(x, y) = x – 2. Then

Since P/y ≠ Q/x, F is not conservative by Theorem 5.

Conservation of Energy
Conservation of Energy

Let’s apply the ideas of this chapter to a continuous force field F that moves
an object along a path C given by r(t),
a  t  b, where r(a) = A is the initial point and r(b) = B is the terminal point
of C.

According to Newton’s Second Law of Motion, the force F(r(t)) at a point on C

is related to the acceleration
a(t) = r (t) by the equation

F(r(t)) = m r(t)

So the work done by the force on the object is

Conservation of Energy

(By formula d/dt [u(t)  v(t)]

= u(t)  v(t) + u(t)  v(t))

(Fundamental Theorem
of Calculus)

Therefore

where v = r  is the velocity.

Conservation of Energy
The quantity that is, half the mass times the square of the
speed, is called the kinetic energy of the object. Therefore we can rewrite
Equation 15 as

W = K(B) – K(A)

which says that the work done by the force field along C is equal to the
change in kinetic energy at the endpoints of C. Now let’s further assume
that F is a conservative force field; that is, we can write F = f. In physics,
the potential energy of an object at the point (x, y, z) is defined as

P(x, y, z) = –f(x, y, z),

so we have F = –P. Then by Theorem 2 we have

Conservation of Energy
W = C F  dr = – C P  dr = –[P(r(b)) – P(r(a))]
= P(A) – P(B)

Comparing this equation with Equation 16, we see that

P(A) + K(A) = P(B) + K(B)

which says that if an object moves from one point A to another point B
under the influence of a conservative force field, then the sum of its
potential energy and its kinetic energy remains constant.
This is called the Law of Conservation of Energy and it is the reason
the vector field is called conservative.
Green’s Theorem
Green’s Theorem gives the relationship between a line integral around
a simple closed curve C and a double integral over the plane region D
bounded by C. (See Figure 1. We assume that D consists of all points
inside C as well as all points on C.)

Figure 1
Green’s Theorem
In stating Green’s Theorem we use the convention that the positive
orientation of a simple closed curve C refers to a single counterclockwise
traversal of C. Thus if C is given by the vector function r(t), a  t  b, then
the region D is always on the left as the point r(t) traverses C.
(See Figure 2.)

(a) Positive orientation (b) Negative orientation

Figure 2
Green’s Theorem
Example 1
Evaluate C x4 dx + xy dy, where C is the triangular curve consisting of the line
segments from (0, 0) to (1, 0), from
(1, 0) to (0, 1), and from (0, 1) to (0, 0).

Solution:
Although the given line integral could be evaluated as usual by the methods,
that would involve setting up three separate integrals along the three sides
of the triangle, so let’s use Green’s Theorem instead.

Notice that the region D enclosed

by C is simple and C has positive
orientation (see Figure 4).

Figure 4
Example 1 – Solution cont’d

If we let P(x, y) = x4 and Q(x, y) = xy, then we have

Green’s Theorem
In Example 1 we found that the double integral was easier to evaluate than
the line integral.

But sometimes it’s easier to evaluate the line integral, and Green’s Theorem is
used in the reverse direction.

For instance, if it is known that P(x, y) = Q(x, y) = 0 on the curve C, then

Green’s Theorem gives

no matter what values P and Q assume in the region D.

Green’s Theorem
Another application of the reverse direction of Green’s Theorem is in
computing areas. Since the area of D is

D 1 dA, we wish to choose P and Q so that

There are several possibilities:

P(x, y) = 0 P(x, y) = –y P(x, y) = y
Q(x, y) = x Q(x, y) = 0 Q(x, y) = x
Green’s Theorem

Formula 5 can be used to explain how planimeters work.

A planimeter is a mechanical instrument used for measuring the area

of a region by tracing its boundary curve.

These devices are useful in all the sciences: in biology for measuring
the area of leaves or wings, in medicine for measuring the size of cross-
sections of organs or tumors, in forestry for estimating the size of
forested regions from photographs.
Green’s Theorem

Figure 5 shows the operation of a polar planimeter: the pole is fixed

and, as the tracer is moved along the boundary curve of the region, the
wheel partly slides and partly rolls perpendicular to the tracer arm.

The planimeter measures the

distance that the wheel rolls
and this is proportional to the
area of the enclosed region.

A Keuffel and Esser polar planimeter

Figure 5
Extended Versions of
Green’s Theorem
Extended Versions of Green’s Theorem

Although we have proved Green’s Theorem only for the case where D is
simple, we can now extend it to the case where D is a finite union of
simple regions.

For example, if D is the region shown in Figure 6, then we can write D =

D1 U D2, where D1 and D2 are both simple.

Figure 6
Extended Versions of Green’s Theorem
The boundary of D1 is C1 U C3 and the boundary of D2 is
C2 U (–C3) so, applying Green’s Theorem to D1 and D2 separately, we get

If we add these two equations, the line integrals along C3 and –C3 cancel,
so we get
Example 4
Evaluate , where C is the boundary of the semiannular
region D in the upper half-plane between the circles x2 + y2 = 1 and x2 + y2
= 4.

Solution:
Notice that although D is not simple, the y-axis divides it into two simple
regions (see Figure 8).

In polar coordinates we can write

D = {(r,  ) | 1  r  2, 0     }
Figure 8
Example 4 – Solution cont’d

Therefore Green’s Theorem gives

Extended Versions of Green’s Theorem

Green’s Theorem can be extended to apply to regions with holes, that is,
regions that are not simply-connected.
Observe that the boundary C of the region D in Figure 9 consists of two
simple closed curves C1 and C2.
We assume that these boundary curves are oriented so that the region D is
always on the left as the curve C is traversed.
Thus the positive direction is
counterclockwise for the outer
curve C1 but clockwise for the
inner curve C2.

Figure 9
Extended Versions of Green’s Theorem
If we divide D into two regions D and D by means
of the lines shown in Figure 10 and then apply Green’s Theorem to
each of D and D, we get Figure 10

Since the line integrals along the common boundary lines are in
oposite directions and they cancel !
16.5 Curl and Divergence

Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Curl
Curl
If F = P i + Q j + R k is a vector field on and the partial
derivatives of P, Q, and R all exist, then the curl of F is the
vector field on defined by

Let’s rewrite Equation 1 using operator notation. We introduce the

vector differential operator  (“del”) as
Curl
It has meaning when it operates on a scalar function to produce the
gradient of f:

If we think of  as a vector with components ∂/∂x, ∂/∂y, and ∂/∂z, we

can also consider the formal cross product of  with the vector field F
as follows:
Example 1
If F(x, y, z) = xz i + xyz j – y2 k, find curl F.

Solution:
Using Equation 2, we have
Curl
We know that the gradient of a function f of three variables is a vector
field on and so we can compute its curl.
The following theorem says that the curl of a gradient vector field is 0.
Curl
Since a conservative vector field is one for which F = f, Theorem 3 can
be rephrased as follows:

If F is conservative, then curl F = 0.

This gives us a way of verifying that a vector field is not conservative.

Curl
The converse of Theorem 3 is not true in general, but the following
theorem says the converse is true if F is defined everywhere. (More
generally it is true if the domain is simply-connected, that is, “has no
hole.”)
Curl
The reason for the name curl is that the curl vector is associated with
rotations.

Another occurs when F represents the velocity field in fluid flow.

Particles near (x, y, z) in the fluid tend to rotate about the axis that
points in the direction of curl F(x, y, z), and the length of this curl vector
is a measure of how quickly the particles move around the axis (see
Figure 1).

If curl F = 0 at a point P, then the fluid is free from

rotations at P and F is called irrotational at P.

Figure 1
Divergence
Divergence
If F = P i + Q j + R k is a vector field on and ∂P/∂x, ∂Q/∂y, and ∂R/∂z
exist, then the divergence of F is the function of three variables defined
by

Observe that curl F is a vector field but div F is a scalar field.

 = (∂/∂x) i + (∂/∂y) j + (∂/∂z) k, the divergence of F can be written
symbolically as the dot product of  and F:
Example 4
If F(x, y, z) = xz i + xyz j – y2 k, find div F.

Solution:
By the definition of divergence (Equation 9 or 10) we have

div F =   F

= z + xz
Divergence
If F is a vector field on , then curl F is also a vector field
on . As such, we can compute its divergence.

The next theorem shows that the result is 0.

Again, the reason for the name divergence can be understood in the
context of fluid flow.
Divergence
If F(x, y, z) is the velocity of a fluid (or gas), then
div F(x, y, z) represents the net rate of change (with respect to time) of
the mass of fluid (or gas) flowing from the point (x, y, z) per unit volume.

In other words, div F(x, y, z) measures the tendency of the fluid to

diverge from the point (x, y, z).

If div F = 0, then F is said to be incompressible.

Another differential operator occurs when we compute the divergence of

a gradient vector field f.
Divergence
If f is a function of three variables, we have

and this expression occurs so often that we abbreviate it as  f. The

2

operator
 =
2

is called the Laplace operator because of its relation to Laplace’s

equation
The Cauchy–Green tensor gives
us the square of local change in
distances due to deformation, i.e.
Divergence
We can also apply the Laplace operator 2 to a vector field

F=Pi+Qj+Rk

in terms of its components:

 F= Pi+ Qj+ Rk

2 2 2 2
Vector Forms of Green’s Theorem
Vector Forms of Green’s Theorem
The curl and divergence operators allow us to rewrite Green’s Theorem
in versions that will be useful in our later work.

We suppose that the plane region D, its boundary curve C, and the
functions P and Q satisfy the hypotheses of Green’s Theorem.

Then we consider the vector field F = P i + Q j.

Vector Forms of Green’s Theorem
Its line integral is

and, regarding F as a vector field on with third component 0, we

have
Vector Forms of Green’s Theorem

Therefore

and we can now rewrite the equation in Green’s Theorem in the vector
form

Equation 12 expresses the line integral of the tangential component

of F along C as the double integral of the vertical component of curl
F over the region D enclosed by C.
Vector Forms of Green’s Theorem
We now derive a similar formula involving the normal component of F.

If C is given by the vector equation

r(t) = x(t) i + y(t) j atb

then the unit tangent vector is

The outward unit normal vector to C is given by

Vector Forms of Green’s Theorem
Then, from equation

we have
Vector Forms of Green’s Theorem
So we have a second vector form of Green’s Theorem.

This version says that the line integral of the normal component of F
along C is equal to the double integral of the divergence of F over the
region D enclosed by C.