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double integrals in polar coordinates

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double integrals in polar coordinates

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allysonwonghappy
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Section 15.

4 : Double Integrals in Polar Coordinates


To this point we’ve seen quite a few double integrals. However, in every case we’ve seen to this
point the region

D
could be easily described in terms of simple functions in Cartesian coordinates. In this section
we want to look at some regions that are much easier to describe in terms of polar coordinates.
For instance, we might have a region that is a disk, ring, or a portion of a disk or ring. In these
cases, using Cartesian coordinates could be somewhat cumbersome. For instance, let’s
suppose we wanted to do the following integral,

∬
D

is the disk of radius 2

∬Df(x,y)dA,D is the disk of radius 2


To this we would have to determine a set of inequalities for
x

x
and

y
that describe this region. These would be,

x
2

√
4

x
2

−2≤x≤2−4−x2≤y≤4−x2
With these limits the integral would become,

∬
D

∫
2

∫
√
4

∬Df(x,y)dA=∫−22∫−4−x24−x2f(x,y)dydx
Due to the limits on the inner integral this is liable to be an unpleasant integral to compute.

However, a disk of radius 2 can be defined in polar coordinates by the following inequalities,

0
≤

0≤θ≤2π0≤r≤2
These are very simple limits and, in fact, are constant limits of integration which almost always
makes integrals somewhat easier.

So, if we could convert our double integral formula into one involving polar coordinates we
would be in pretty good shape. The problem is that we can’t just convert the

dx
and the

dy
into a
d

dr
and a

dθ
. In computing double integrals to this point we have been using the fact that

dA=dxdy
and this really does require Cartesian coordinates to use. Once we’ve moved into polar
coordinates

d
r

dA≠drdθ
and so we’re going to need to determine just what

dA
is under polar coordinates.

So, let’s step back a little bit and start off with a general region in terms of polar coordinates and
see what we can do with that. Here is a sketch of some region using polar coordinates.

So, our general region will be defined by inequalities,

θ
≤

h
1

h
2

α≤θ≤βh1(θ)≤r≤h2(θ)
Now, to find

dA
let’s redo the figure above as follows,
As shown, we’ll break up the region into a mesh of radial lines and arcs. Now, if we pull one of
the pieces of the mesh out as shown we have something that is almost, but not quite a
rectangle. The area of this piece is

ΔA
. The two sides of this piece both have length

r
o

r
i

Δr=ro−ri
where

r
o

ro
is the radius of the outer arc and

r
i

ri
is the radius of the inner arc. Basic geometry then tells us that the length of the inner edge is

r
i

riΔθ
while the length of the out edge is

r
o

roΔθ
where

θ
Δθ
is the angle between the two radial lines that form the sides of this piece.

Now, let’s assume that we’ve taken the mesh so small that we can assume that

r
i

r
o

ri≈ro=r
and with this assumption we can also assume that our piece is close enough to a rectangle that
we can also then assume that,

ΔA≈rΔθΔr
Also, if we assume that the mesh is small enough then we can also assume that,
d

dA≈ΔAdθ≈Δθdr≈Δr
With these assumptions we then get

d
r

dA≈rdrdθ
.

In order to arrive at this we had to make the assumption that the mesh was very small. This is
not an unreasonable assumption. Recall that the definition of a double integral is in terms of two
limits and as limits go to infinity the mesh size of the region will get smaller and smaller. In fact,
as the mesh size gets smaller and smaller the formula above becomes more and more accurate
and so we can say that,

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