Math 21a: Multivariable Calculus 11/17/2014 Chao Li([email protected].

edu)

Green’s theorem
Last class we saw a first version of a fundamental theorem — the fundamental theorem of
line integrals. The idea is to relate a one-dimensional quantity (a line integral along C) of ∇f
to a zero-dimensional quantity (the difference at endpoints of C) of f . We would like push
this idea up one dimension, to relate a two-dimensional quantity (a double integral on D) of a
derivative (the curl of F⃗ ) to a one-dimensional quantity (the line integral along the boundary
of D) of F⃗ . This is the content of Green’s theorem.
Theorem 1 (Green’s Theorem). Let D be a region with boundary curve C, then
∫∫ ∫
curl F⃗ dxdy = F⃗ · d⃗r.
D C

Remark. For a closed curve C, there are two ways to do the line integration and they differ
by a sign. We use the convention that C is of positive orientation: when we walk along C,
the region D is always on our left-hand side.
Remark. When F⃗ is conservative, we have curl F⃗ = 0 (not “curly”, in other words, irrotational)
on a simply-connected region. So the left-hand side should be zero. So the right-hand side is
also zero, which tells nothing but the closed-loop property of conservative fields!
Green’s theorem has many applications: it simplifies the computation of line integrals and
double integrals in various sitution.
2 √
Example 1. Let F⃗ = ⟨3y − esin x , 7x ∫ + y 4 + 2y⟩ and C be the circle x2 + y 2 = 9 (positively
oriented). What is the line integral C F · d⃗r?
⃗
∫ ∫∫
Answer. curl F⃗ = 7 − 3 = 4. So by Green’s theorem, C F⃗ · d⃗r = D 4dxdy = 4 · 9π = 36π.
This line integral is almost impossible to work out without the aid of Green’s theorem!
Example 2. Let F⃗ = ⟨xy,
∫ x − y ⟩ and C be the (positively oriented) boundary of the square
2 2

0 ≤ x, y ≤ 1, . What is C F⃗ · d⃗r?
∫ ∫1∫1
Answer. curl F⃗ = 2x−x = x. So by Green’s theorem, we obtain C F⃗ ·d⃗r = 0 0 xdxdy = 12 ,
which is much simpler than adding 4 separate line integrals along the four sides.
As a neat application of Green’s theorem, we take F⃗ to be any vector field F⃗ satisfying
curl F⃗ = 1 (for example, F⃗ = ⟨0, x⟩ or ⟨−y, 0⟩ or 21 ⟨x, −y⟩), then Green’s theorem tells us that
the line integral along the boundary C computes the area of the enclosed region D!
Theorem 2. The area of D is equal to
∫ ∫ ∫
1
A(D) = ⟨0, x⟩ · d⃗r = ⟨−y, 0⟩ · d⃗r = ⟨−y, x⟩ · d⃗r,
C C 2 C
where C is the boundary of D.
Example 3. What is the area enclosed by the ellipse x2 /a2 + y 2 /b2 = 1?
∫
Answer. The boundary C can be parametrized by ⃗r(t) = ⟨a cos t, b sin t⟩. Then F⃗ · d⃗r =
∫ 2π C
⃗ r(t)) · ⟨−a sin t, b cos t⟩dt. So we had better choose F⃗ = 1 ⟨−y, x⟩. Then
0 F (⃗ 2
∫ 2π
1
A(D) = ⟨−b sin t, a cos t⟩ · ⟨−a sin t, b cos t⟩dt = πab.
2 0
Again, it is much neater than using type I or type II integration.

1
Math 21a: Multivariable Calculus 11/17/2014 Chao Li([email protected])

Remark. The boundary of a region may consist of several curves. For example, the boundary
of 1 ≤ x2 + y ≤ 4 consists of a circle of radius 1 and a circle of radius 2. Green’s theorem
still applies to such kinds of region, but one has to be careful about the orientation. Simply
remember that the positive orientation is determined in a way that the region is always “to
the left”. In the above example, the positive orientation on the outer (resp. inner) circle is
counterclockwise (resp. clockwise).

Example 4. Let C be the curve enclosing the Yang part the the Yin-Yang symbol oriented
as in the∫ picture (it has three parts). Let F⃗ = ⟨−y + sin(ex ), x + sin(ey )⟩ be the Qi field.
What is C F⃗ · d⃗r?

Answer. We compute that curl F⃗ = 2. Since the boundary is negatively oriented, by Green’s
theorem, this line integral computes −2 times the area of the white region. Since the area of
the white region is half of the area of the disk of radius 6, we know that
∫
π · 62
F⃗ · d⃗r = −2 · = −36π.
C 2

Summary
Green’s theorem relates the double integral of the curl F⃗ over a region to the line integral
⃗
of F along the boundary curve. The curl of a vector field measures how “curly” it is and
the curl is zero for a conservative field. Green’s theorem has many applications, including
computing line integrals (converting to double integrals) and computing areas (converting to
line integrals).