Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In mathematics, a line integral is an integral where the function to be integrated is evaluated along a curve. [1] The terms path integral, curve integral, and curvilinear integral are also used; contour integral is used as well, although that is typically reserved for line integrals in the complex plane. The function to be integrated may be a ...
The gradient theorem implies that line integrals through gradient fields are path-independent. In physics this theorem is one of the ways of defining a conservative force. By placing φ as potential, ∇φ is a conservative field. Work done by conservative forces does not depend on the path followed by the object, but only the end points, as ...
A line integral (sometimes called a path integral) is an integral where the function to be integrated is evaluated along a curve. [42] Various different line integrals are in use. In the case of a closed curve it is also called a contour integral. The function to be integrated may be a scalar field or a vector field.
Calculus. In vector calculus, Green's theorem relates a line integral around a simple closed curve C to a double integral over the plane region D (surface in ) bounded by C. It is the two-dimensional special case of Stokes' theorem (surface in ). In one dimension, it is equivalent to the fundamental theorem of calculus.
Conservative vector field. In vector calculus, a conservative vector field is a vector field that is the gradient of some function. [1] A conservative vector field has the property that its line integral is path independent; the choice of path between two points does not change the value of the line integral.
This visualization also explains why integration by parts may help find the integral of an inverse function f −1 (x) when the integral of the function f(x) is known. Indeed, the functions x(y) and y(x) are inverses, and the integral ∫ x dy may be calculated as above from knowing the integral ∫ y dx.
The integral form of the original circuital law is a line integral of the magnetic field around some closed curve C (arbitrary but must be closed). The curve C in turn bounds both a surface S which the electric current passes through (again arbitrary but not closed—since no three-dimensional volume is enclosed by S ), and encloses the current.
Complex analysis. In complex analysis, the residue theorem, sometimes called Cauchy's residue theorem, is a powerful tool to evaluate line integrals of analytic functions over closed curves; it can often be used to compute real integrals and infinite series as well. It generalizes the Cauchy integral theorem and Cauchy's integral formula.