Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A line integral of a scalar field is thus a line integral of a vector field, where the vectors are always tangential to the line of the integration. Line integrals of vector fields are independent of the parametrization r in absolute value, but they do depend on its orientation. Specifically, a reversal in the orientation of the parametrization ...
The gradient theorem states that if the vector field F is the gradient of some scalar-valued function (i.e., if F is conservative), then F is a path-independent vector field (i.e., the integral of F over some piecewise-differentiable curve is dependent only on end points). This theorem has a powerful converse:
Such integrals are known as line integrals and surface integrals respectively. These have important applications in physics, as when dealing with vector fields. 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.
The classical Stokes' theorem relates the surface integral of the curl of a vector field over a surface in Euclidean three-space to the line integral of the vector field over its boundary. It is a special case of the general Stokes theorem (with n = 2 {\displaystyle n=2} ) once we identify a vector field with a 1-form using the metric on ...
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. Path independence of the line integral is equivalent to the ...
The sign of the line integral is based on the right-hand rule for the choice of direction of line element ds. To establish this sign, for example, suppose the field F points in the positive z -direction, and the surface Σ is a portion of the xy -plane with perimeter ∂Σ.
Integral curves are known by various other names, depending on the nature and interpretation of the differential equation or vector field. In physics, integral curves for an electric field or magnetic field are known as field lines, and integral curves for the velocity field of a fluid are known as streamlines.
A field line is an integral curve for that vector field and may be constructed by starting at a point and tracing a line through space that follows the direction of the vector field, by making the field line tangent to the field vector at each point.