Part 18 - Green's Theorem

Introduction

In this part we’ll cover Green’s Theorem, which will allow us to have a relationship between integrals and double integrals.

Before starting, we will only work with simple curves. Which essentially just means that the curves have no self-injections (only exception is when it starts and ends at the same point).

If CC is a simple and closed curve, e.g a circle. Then CC determines a inner region, DD. In this case, we write D=C\partial D = C. Meaning the border of DD.

NB: “Positive” orientation is counter-clockwise and “Negative” orientation is clockwise.

Theorem 1 (Green’s Theorem)

Let CC be a simple, closed curve oriented positively. Let DD be the region it surrounds and let P,Q:DRP, Q: D \rarr \mathbb{R}.

CP dx+Q dy=DQxPy dx dy\int_C P\ dx + Q\ dy = \iint_D \dfrac{\partial Q}{\partial x} - \dfrac{\partial P}{\partial y}\ dx\ dy

Equivalently:

DP dx+Q dy=DQxPy dx dy\int_{\partial D} P\ dx + Q\ dy = \iint_D \dfrac{\partial Q}{\partial x} - \dfrac{\partial P}{\partial y}\ dx\ dy
Example 1

Evaluate Cx4 dx+xy dy\int_C x^4\ dx + xy\ dy where C is the triangle going from (0,0)(0, 0) to (1,0)(1, 0) to (0,1)(0, 1) then back to (0,0)(0, 0).

Cx4 dx+xy dy=DQxPy dx dy=Dy0 dx dy\int_C x^4\ dx + xy\ dy = \iint_D \dfrac{\partial Q}{\partial x} - \dfrac{\partial P}{\partial y}\ dx\ dy = \iint_D y - 0\ dx\ dy

Which then just becomes:

0101xy dy dx\int_0^1 \int_0^{1 - x} y\ dy\ dx01y22y=0y=1x\int_0^1 \dfrac{y^2}{2} \bigg\rvert_{y = 0}^{y = 1 - x}01(1x)22 dx\int_0^1 \dfrac{(1 - x)^2}{2}\ dx1201(1x)2 dx\dfrac{1}{2} \int_0^1 (1 - x)^2\ dx120112x+x2 dx\dfrac{1}{2} \int_0^1 1 - 2x + x^2\ dx12[xx2+x33x=0x=1] dx\dfrac{1}{2} \left[x - x^2 + \dfrac{x^3}{3} \bigg\rvert_{x = 0}^{x = 1}\right]\ dx16\boxed{\dfrac{1}{6}}
Example 2

Evaluate C(3yesin(x)) dx+(7x+y4+1) dy\int_C (3y - e^{sin(x)})\ dx + (7x + \sqrt{y^4 + 1})\ dy

For, C={(x,y)x2+y2=9}C = \{(x, y) | x^2 + y^2 = 9\}, with positive orientation.

C(3yesin(x) dx+(7x+y4+1) dy=DQxPy dx dy=D(73) dx dy\int_C (3y - e^{sin(x)}\ dx + (7x + \sqrt{y^4 + 1})\ dy = \iint_D \dfrac{\partial Q}{\partial x} - \dfrac{\partial P}{\partial y}\ dx\ dy = \iint_D (7 - 3)\ dx\ dyD4 dx dy\iint_D 4\ dx\ dy4D1 dx dy4 \iint_D 1\ dx\ dy

We can either, do a change of variables to polar coordinates, or just use the definition that this is just the area of the circle.

4π32=36π4 \cdot \pi 3^2 = 36\pi

With polar coordinates:

S={(r,θ)0r3,0θ2π}S = \{(r, \theta) | 0 \leq r \leq 3, 0 \leq \theta \leq 2\pi\}402π031r dr dθ4 \int_0^{2\pi} \int_0^3 1 \cdot r\ dr\ d\theta402π92 dθ4 \int_0^{2\pi} \dfrac{9}{2}\ d\theta49π=36π4 \cdot 9 \pi = 36\pi

Applications

As we just saw, this could maybe be useful to compute areas, using Green’s Theorem “backwards”.

Area(D)=D1 dA\text{Area}(D) = \iint_D 1\ dA

Which, by Green’s Theorem, means that:

P(x,y)=0Q(x,y)=xP(x, y) = 0 \newline Q(x, y) = x

or

P(x,y)=yQ(x,y)=0P(x, y) = -y \newline Q(x, y) = 0

Yields this result.

Example 3

Find the area of the ellipse x2a2+y2b2=1\dfrac{x^2}{a^2} + \dfrac{y^2}{b^2} = 1.

D1 dA=Dx dy\iint_D 1\ dA = \int_{\partial D} x\ dy

We need to parameterize the border of this ellipse. The parameterization for a circle is:

r(t)=cos(t),sin(t)  0t2π\vec{r}(t) = \langle cos(t), sin(t) \rangle \ | \ 0 \leq t \leq 2\pi

For an ellipse, we could take a naive guess and guess that it is:

r(t)=acos(t),bsin(t)  0t2π\vec{r}(t) = \langle a cos(t), b sin(t) \rangle \ | \ 0 \leq t \leq 2\pi

One can prove that this works, but it does :)

So:

02πx dy=02πacos(t)bcos(t) dt=ab02πcos2(t) dt==abπ\int_0^{2\pi} x\ dy = \int_0^{2\pi} a cos(t) \cdot b cos(t)\ dt = ab \int_0^{2\pi} cos^2(t)\ dt = \ldots = \boxed{ab\pi}

Parametric surfaces

Definition 1 (Parametric surface)

A parametric surface is a region, SR3S \subset \mathbb{R}^3, which is the image of a function, r:DR3r: D \rarr \mathbb{R}^3, defined on a region DR2D \subset \mathbb{R}^2 of the plane.

Which means we can parameterize:

r(u,v)=x(u,v),y(u,v),z(u,v)\vec{r}(u, v) = \langle x(u, v), y(u, v), z(u, v) \rangle
Example 4r(u,v)=ucos(v),usin(v),1  0u1,0v2π\vec{r}(u, v) = \langle u cos(v), u sin(v), 1 \rangle \ | \ 0 \leq u \leq 1, 0 \leq v \leq 2\pi

Plotting this parameterization:

Example 5

Elliptic paraboloid is the surface with equation:

z=x2+2y2z = x^2 + 2y^2

The parameterization is therefore:

r(x,y)x,y,x2+2y2\vec{r}(x, y) \langle x, y, x^2 + 2y^2 \rangle
Example 6

Find a parameterization of:

x2+y2=20z1x^2 + y^2 = 2 \newline 0 \leq z \leq 1ru,v=2cos(u),2sin(u),v  0u2π,0v1\vec{r}{u, v} = \langle 2 cos(u), 2 sin(u), v \rangle \ | \ 0 \leq u \leq 2\pi, 0 \leq v \leq 1

Plot: