Line Integrals of Scalar Functions

Definition

Suppose that we can describe a curve C by the vector function (Figure 1).

, where the variable s is the arc lengthof the curv

If a scalar function F is defined over the curve C, then the integral curve C and noted as

is called a line integral of scalar functionF along th

The line integral

exists if the function F is continuous on the curve C.

Fig.1
Properties of Line Integrals of Scalar Functions

Fig.2

The line integral of a scalar function has the following properties: 1. The line integral of a scalar function over the smooth curve C does not depend on the orientation of the curve;

2.

If C1 is a curve that begins at A and ends at B, and if C2 is a curve that begins at B and ends at D (Figure 2), then their union is defined to be the curve C1 C2, that progresses along the curve C1 from A to B, and then along C2 from B to that

3.

If the smooth curve C is parameterized by curve C, then

, and the scalar function F is continuous onthe

4.

If C is a smooth curve in the xy-plane given by the equation

, then

5.

Similarly, if a smooth curve C in the xy-plane is defined by the equation

, then

6.

In polar coordinates the line integral

becomes

where the curve C is defined by the polar function

Example 1

Evaluate the line integral

Solution.

along the segment of the line y = x from the origin up to the point (2,2) (see Figure 3).

Fig.3

Fig.4

Example 2

Calculate the line integral

Solution.

, where C is a part of the circle

The arc length differential is

Then applying the formula

in the xy-plane, we obtain

Example 3

Evaluate the line integral

Solution.

, where C is a the curve given by the equation

We use the formula

Here

Hence,

Example 4

Evaluate the integral

over the plane curve, where C is the line segment from O(0,0) to A(1,2) (see Figure 4 above).

Solution.

First we find the equation of the line OA:

Using the formula

We get the line integral:

Example 5

Calculate the integral

Solution.

, where the curve C is parameterized by

Using the formula

we can write

Example 6

Calculate the ine integral

Solution.

, where the curve C is the line segment from (0,2) to (4,0) (Figure 5).

Find the equation of the line AB:

By the formula

we find the integral:

Fig.5
Example 7

Fig.6

Calculate the line integral

Solution.

, where the curve C is the part of ellipse

lying in the first quadrant (Figure 6).

The equation of the ellipse can be written in the parametric form:

For the arc of the ellipse lying in the first quadrant, we have

. Hence, by the formula

the line integral becomes

Make the substitution. Let

. Then

Refine the limits of integration. When t = 0, we have u = 0, and when

, we get u = a. As a result, the integral can be written as

It is convenient to make one more substitution of variable:

When u = 0, we have

, and, accordingly, when u = a, we have

. Thus,

Line Integrals of Vector Fields Definition Suppose that a curve C is defined by the vector function of the vector function

, where S is the arc length of the curve. Then the deriv

is the unit vector of the tangent line to this curve (Figure 1). Here , and are the angles between the tangent line and the positive axis Ox, Oy and Oz, respectively.

Fig.1 Introduce the vector function

Fig.2 defined over the curve C so that for the scalar function

the line integral denoted as

exists. Such an integral

is called the line integral of the vector field

alongthe curve C a

Thus, by definition,

where

is the unit vector of the tangent line to the curve C.

The latter formula can be written in the vector form:

where

If a curve C lies in the xy-plane and R = 0, we can write:

Properties of Line Integrals of Vector Fields The line integral of vector function has the following properties:

1.

Let C denote the curve AB which is traversed from A to B, and let C denote the curve BA with the opposite orientat from B to A. Then

2.

If C is the union of the curves C1 and C2 (Figure 2 above), then

3.

If the curve C is parameterized by

, then

4.

If C lies in the xy-plane and is given by the equation be written as

(in this case R =0 and t = x), then the latter formula

Example 1

Evaluate he integral Solution. Using the formula

over the curve C parameterized by

we find the answer:

Example 2

Evaluate the line integral

along the curve C defined by the equation

from the origin (0,0) to the point (2,8).

Solution. To find the given integral, we use the formula

Substituting

and

in the integrand, we obtain

Example 3

Calculate Solution. We use the formula

along the curve

from O (0,0) to A (1,1) (Figure 3 below).

Substituting

and

in the integrand, we find the answer:

Example 4

Evaluate the line integral Solution. If , then by the formula

along the curve

from the point O (0,0) to the point A (1,1) (Figure 3).

we obtain

Fig.3 Example 5

Fig.4

Calculate the line integral Solution.

over the curve

in the interval

(Figure 4).

Since

, then the differential is

. According to the formula

we find the solution:

Example 6

Evaluate the line integral counterclockwise direction (Figure 5). Solution.

, where C is the part of the circle lying in the first quadrant and traversed inthe

Obviously, the arc of the circle is described by the function , where a is the radius of the circle. (We take the positive value of the root because y > 0 in the first quadrant.) Then the differential is

Since we integrate in the counterclockwise direction, the lower and upper limits of integration will be a and 0, respectively. Hence,

Fig.5 Example 7

Fig.6

Calculate the line integral

, where the curve C is the part of the ellipse (Figure 6) parameterized

by

Solution. Write all the expressions through the parameter t:

Then using the formula

we obtain

Example 8

Find the integral from A (1,1,1) to the point B (2,3,4) (Figure 7). Solution. We first find the equation of the line AB:

along the curve C, where C is the line segment AB traversed in the direction

Introduce the parameter t:

and write the equation in parametric form:

Then we apply the formula

Obviously, the parameter t varies in the interval [0,1]. Then the line integral becomes

Fig.7 Green's Theorem Let R be a region in the xy-plane that is bounded by a closed, piecewise smooth curve C. Let

be a continuous vector function with continuous first partial derivatives theorem states that

in a some domain containing R. ThenGreen's

where the symbol

indicates that the curve (contour) C is closed and integration is performed counterclockwise around this curve.

If

, Green's formula yields:

where S is the area of the region R bounded by the contour C. We can also write Green's Theorem in vector form. For this we introduce the so-called curl of a vector field. Let

be a vector field. Then the curl of the vector field

is called the vector denoted by

or

, which is equal to

In terms of curl, Green's Theorem can be written as

Note that Green's Theorem is simply "Stoke's Theorem" applied to a 2-dimensional plane. Example 1

Using Green's theorem, evaluate the line integral Solution. The components of the vector field are

, where C is the curve bounding the unit disk R.

Using the Green's formula

we transform the line integral into the double integral:

Converting the double integral into polar coordinates, we have

Example 2

Using Green's formula, evaluate the line integral Solution. First we identify the components of the vector field: and find the partial derivatives:

, where C is the circle

Hence, the line integral can be written in the form

In the last expression the double integral integral is

is equal numerically to the area of the disk

, which is

. Then th

Example 3

Using Green's theorem, calculate the integral counterclockwise direction.

. The curve C is the circle

(Figure 1), traversed in the

Solution. Write the components of the vector fields and their partial derivatives:

Then

where R is the circle with radius a centered at the origin. Transforming to polar coordinates, we obtain

Fig.1 Example 4

Fig.2

Using Green's formula, evaluate the integral Solution. We use Green's formula:

, where the curve C is the ellipse

(Figure 2).

Here

Hence,

Since the double integral

is equal to the area of the ellipse

, the integral is

Example 5

Using Green's formula, calculate the line integral

, where the contour C is the triangle ABD with

verticesA (a,0), B (a,a), D (0,a) (Figure 3). Solution. In the given line integral , so that

Then, by Green's formula,

It is easy to see that the equation of the side AD is

. Hence, the latter double integral becomes

Fig.3 Example 6

Fig.4

Using Green's theorem, evaluate the line integral radius a lying in the first quadrant (Figure 4). Solution. Applying Green's formula

, where the contour C encloses the sector ofthe circle w

we identify:

Hence,

Transforming this integral to polar coordinates, we get

Example 7

Calculate the integral using Green's theorem. The contour C is the boundary of the square with the vertices A (1,0),B (0,1), D (1,0), E (0,1) (Figure 5). Solution. According to Green's theorem, we can write

Hence,

Find the equations of the sides of the square:

It is convenient to change variables. Let

. In terms of u and v, we have

As seen, the pullback S of the initial region R is the square, shown in Figure 6. Calculate the Jacobian of the transformation.

Then the absolute value of the Jacobian is

Hence,

so that the integral is

Fig.5 Example 8

Fig.6

Calculate the line integral circle (Figure 7). Solution. Identify the components of the vector field and find the partial derivatives:

using Green's theorem. The contour of integration Cis th

Then by Green's formula,

It is convenient to transform the double integral to polar coordinates.

Here

Thus, the integral is

Fig.7 Example 9

Calculate the area of the region R bounded by the astroid Solution.

We will use the line integral to define the area of the region, using the formula represented as

. In parametric form this formula i

Substituting the equations of the astroid, we obtain

Example 10

Verify Green's theorem when

and the region of integration R is the disk of radius 2 with centerat the origin

Solution. First we calculate the line integral of the given vector field. The contour of integration is the circle, which is the boundary ofthe region

Using the parametric equation of the circle we have

Here we use the trigonometric identity

Then the line integral I1 is

Now we evaluate the double integral:

In polar coordinates, the integral can be written as

As can be seen, I1 = I2. Path Independence of Line Integrals Definitions The line integral of a vector function domain D, and if there exists some scalar function

is said to be path independent, if and only if P, Q and R are continuous in a in D such that

If this is the case, then the line integral of

along the curve C from A to B is given by the formula

(This result for line integrals is analogous to the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus for functions of one variable). Hence, if the line integral is path independent, then for any closed contour C

A vector field of the form A Test for a Conservative Field The line integral of a vector function

is called a conservative field, and

is called a scalar potential.

is path independent if and only if

It's implied that each component of

has continuous partial derivatives of variables x, y and z.

If the line integral is taken in the xy-plane, then the following formula is valid:

In this case, the test for determining if a vector field is conservative can be written in the form

The considered test is the necessary requirement, but generally speaking, it is not sufficient condition for a vector field to be conservati However, this test is sufficient, if the region of integration D is simply connected. Example 1

Evaluate the line integral for two paths of integration: 1) AB is the line segment from A (0,0) to B (1,1); 2) AB is the parabola from A (0,0) to B (1,1).

Solution. Consider the first case. Obviously, the equation of the line is y = x. Then using the formula

we obtain

If the curve AB is parabola

, we have

i.e. we have obtained the same answer.

Apply the test

to determine if the vector field is conservative.

As can be seen, the vector field Example 2

is conservative. This explains the result that the line integral is path independent.

Show that the line integral points A, B are A (1,2), B (4,5). Solution. Since the components of the vector field

is path independent and calculate this integral. The coordinates of the

and their partial derivatives

are continuous, and the test is satisfied, we conclude that the vector field the line integral is path independent. To evaluate the line integral, we notice that

is conservative and, h

so the scalar potential is

. Then by the formula

we find the integral:

Example 3

Determine if the vector field

is conservative?

Solution. Since P = yz, Q = xz and R = xy, the curl of the vector field is

Hence, the vector field Example 4

is conservative.

Determine if the vector field Solution. The components of the vector field are

is conservative? If it is, find its potential.

. It is easy to see that

Thus, the given vector field is conservative.

To find its potential, we first integrate

with respect to x.

Now we determine C(y) by setting the partial derivative

equal to Q (x,y).

Hence,

. Then

where 1 is a constant, so the scalar potential of the field is

Example 5

Determine if the vector field Solution. Here

is conservative. If it is, find its potential.

. Calculate the curl of the vector field.

Hence, the vector field

is conservative. To find its potential, we integrate

with respect to the variable x.

In the above integral the variables y and z are treated as constants.

Now we differentiate the potential u with respect to the variable y and set

equal to Q to get

We see from the last equation that

To determine G (y,z) we integrate with respect to y and add a constant function H (z).

Thus, the scalar potential is

Finally,

so that setting

equal to

yields

The final answer is

where C0 is an arbitrary constant. Geometric Applications of Line Integrals Line integrals have many applications in mathematics, physics and engineering. In particular, they are used for computations of length of a curve; area of a region bounded by a closed curve; volume of a solid formed by rotating a closed curve about a line.

Length of a Curve Let C be a piecewise smooth curve described by the position vector integral

. Then the length of the curve is given by the lin

where

is the derivative, and

are the components of the position vector

If the curve C is two-dimensional, the latter formula can be written in the form

If the curve C is the graph of a continuous and differentiable function

in the xy-plane, the length of the curve is given by

Finally, if the curve C is given by the equation differentiable in the interval

in polar coordinates, and the function

is continuous an

, the length of the curve is defined by the formula

Area of a Region Bounded by a Closed Curve If C is a closed smooth piecewise curve in the xy-plane (Figure 1), the area of the region R bounded by the curve is given by

It is supposed here that the contour C is traversed in the counterclockwise direction.

If the closed curve C is given in parametric form formula

, the area of the corresponding region can be calculated by the

Fig.1 Fig.2 Volume of a Solid Formed by Rotating a Closed Curve about the X-axis Let R be a region in the half-plane y 0 bounded by a closed smooth piecewise curve C traversed in the counterclockwise direction. Su that the solid is formed by rotating the region R about the x-axis (Figure 2). Then the volume of the solid is given by

Example 1 Find the arc length of the plane curve for .

Solution.

We can write the function as The length of the arc is

or

. Since y 0, we take only the positive root in the equation of the curve (Figure

Fig.3 Example 2

Fig.4

Find the length of the astroid

Solution. The astroid is shown in Figure 4. By symmetry, we can calculate the length of the arc lying in the first quadrant and then multiply the re by 4. The equation of the astroid in the first quadrant is

Then

so that

Thus, the length of the astroid is

Example 3

Find the length of the space curve parameterized by Solution. Using the formula

, where

we have

Example 4 Find the arc length of the cycloid parameterized by Solution. We use the formula for (Figure 5).

Here the derivatives are

Then the length of the cycloid is

Fig.5 Example 5 Calculate the length of the parabola Solution. Applying the formula for .

we obtain

To find this integral we make the substitution have , and when x = 1, we have, respectively

. Hence, . Then the length of the parabola is

. When x = 0,we

Make one more change of variable. Let now

. When t = 0, then we have z = 0. If

, we get

We used here the trigonometric identity

As a result, the length of the curve is

Decompose the integrand into partial functions.

Hence,

Solving this system of equations we find the coefficients:

Thus,

Example 6 Find the length of the cardioid given in polar coordinates by the equation Solution. We use the formula (Figure 6).

The length of the cardioid is expressed in the form

We notice here that

when

, and

when

. Hence,

Writing the latter integral as the sum of two integrals, we find the length of cardioid:

Fig.6 Example 7

Fig.7

Find the area of the region bounded by the hyperbola Solution. We calculate the area using the line integral:

, the x-axis, and the vertical lines x = 1, x = 2 (Figure 7).

Calculate each of the integrals separately.

Hence, the area of the region is

Example 8 Find the area of the region bounded by the ellipse Solution. (Figure 8).

1) First we apply the formula

. This yields

We can also get the result using the other two formulas:

Fig.8 Example 9 Find the volume of the solid formed by rotating the region R bounded by the curve the x-axis. Solution. The given region R is shown in Figure 9. The volume of the solid is

Fig.9

and the lines x = 0, x = 2,y = 0, ab

Calculate the line integrals:

Hence, the volume of the solid is

Example 10 Find the volume of the ellipsoid formed by revolving ellipse with semi-axis a and b about the x-axis. (Figure 10).

Fig.10 Solution. The parametric equations of the ellipse are We can consider the upper half of the ellipse at y 0. Then the volume of the ellipsoid with the semi-axis a, b, b is

where y(x) implies the equation of the upper half of the ellipse. In parametric form we obtain

In particular, the volume of a sphere when a = b = R is Physical Applications of Line Integrals

In physics, the line integrals are used, in particular, for computations of mass of a wire; center of mass and moments of inertia of a wire; work done by a force on an object moving in a vector field; magnetic field around a conductor (Ampere's Law); voltage generated in a loop (Faraday's Law of magnetic induction).

Consider these applications in more details. Mass of a Wire Suppose that a piece of a wire is described by a curve C in three dimensions. The mass per unit length of the wire is a continuous function (x,y,z). Then the total mass of the wire is expressed through the line integral of scalar function as

If C is a curve parameterized by the vector function

, then the mass can be computed bythe formula

If C is a curve in the xy-plane, then the mass of the wire is given by

or in parametric form

Center of Mass and Moments of Inertia of a Wire Let a wire is described by a curve C with a continuous density function (x,y,z). Then coordinates of the center of mass of the wire are defined by the formulas

where

are so-called first moments. The moments of inertia about the x-axis, y-axis and z-axis are given by the formulas

Work Work done by a force

on an object moving along a curve C is given by the line integral

where is the vector force field acting on the object, of and .

is the unit tangent vector (Figure 1). The notation

means dot produ

Note that the force field is not necessarily the cause of moving the object. It might be some other force acting to overcome the force that is actually moving the object. In this case the work of the force could result in a negative value. If a vector field is defined in the coordinate form then the work done by the force is calculated by the formula

If the object is moved along a curve C in the xy-plane, then the following formula is valid:

where

If a path C is specified by a parameter t (t often means time), the formula for calculating work becomes

where t goes from to . If a vector field is conservative, then then the work on an object moving from A to B can be found by the formula

where

is a scalar potential of the field.

Fig.1

Fig.2

Ampere's Law The line integral of a magnetic field around a closed path C is equal to the total current flowing through the area bounded by the contour C (Figure 2). This is expressed by the formula

where is the vacuum permeability constant, equal to H/m. Faraday's Law The electromotive force induced around a closed loop C is equal to the rate of the change of magnetic flux passing through the loop (Figure 3).

Fig.3 Example 1 Find the mass of a wire running along the plane curve C with the density point A(1,1) to point B(2,4). Solution. We first find the parametric equation of the line AB: . The curve C is the line segment from

where parameter t varies in the interval [0,1]. Then the mass of the wire is

Example 2 Find the mass of a wire lying along the arc of the circle from A(1,0) to B(0,1) with the density

(Figure 4)

Solution. The circle with radius 1 and centered at the origin has parametric equations

where parameter t varies in the range

. Then the mass of the wire is calculated in the following way:

Fig.4 Example 3 Find the center of mass of a wire running along the cardioid Solution. Obviously that by symmetry. To find the coordinate

Fig.5

(Figure 5) with the density = 1.

of the center of mass, we can consider only the upper half of the cardio

We first calculate the mass of the half of the cardioid. In polar coordinates,

Compute the first moment My. Using the formula

we obtain

Letting

(the lower and upper limits of integration become 0 and

, respectively), we can write

Then

Hence, the coordinates of the center of mass of the cardioid are Example 4

Find the moment of inertia Ix of the circle x2 + y2 = a2 with the density = 1. Solution. The equation of the circle in parametric form is

Then the moment of inertia Ix about the x-axis can be calculated by the formula

So we have

Example 5

Find the work done by the force field path C, where 1) C is the line segment y = x; 2) C is the curve .

on an object moving from the origin O(0,0) to the point A(1,1)along th

Solution. 1) We first compute the work along the line segment y = x.

2) Now we find the work when the object moves along the curve

Example 6 An object with a mass of m is thrown under the angle with the initial velocity v0 (Figure 6). Calculate the work performed by the gravitational force while the object moves until the moment it strikes the ground.

Solution. We first find the equation of the path in parametric form (t is time):

At the moment of strike, y = 0, so that the fall time is

The gravitational force can be written in the form

. Then the work done in moving the abject alongthe path is

This result can be easily explained. The gravitational field of Earth is conservative, since

The scalar potential of the field can be written in the general form as

Setting

, we find that

Thus, the potential of the gravitational field is

where C is a constant, which can be set zero. As a result, the potential of the field is

From here we see that the work done in moving the object from O(0,0) to the final point A(L,0) is

Fig.6 Example 7

Fig.7

Find the magnetic field in vacuum a distance r from the axis of a long straight wire carrying current I. Solution. To find the field a distance r from the wire, we consider a loop of radius r, centered on the wire with its plane perpendicular to the wire the current I (Figure 7). Since the field has a constant magnitude and the field is tangent to the loop everywhere, the dot product of vectors and is just . Then we can write

As a result we have

Example 8

Evaluate the maximum electromotive force and the electric field E induced in a finger ring of radius 1 cm when the passenger flies on airplane in the magnetic field of the Earth with the velocity of 900 km/h. Solution. According to Faraday's law,

As the conducting ring moves through the Earth's magnetic field, there is a change in the magnetic flux passing throughthe ring. Suppose that the magnetic field where is perpendicular to the plane of the ring. Then change in the flux for the time is

, v is the velocity of the airplane, B is the magnetic field of the Earth. From the last expression we can write:

Substituting the given values we obtain the electromotive force: As can be seen, it's safe for human.

We can find the electric field in the conducting ring by the formula . By symmetry, the induced electric field will have a constant magnitude along the ring. Its direction will be tangential to the circle at every point. Hence, the line integral around the circle i

Hence, the electric field strength is