Not as painful as it looks

Calculus Level 3

Find the upward flux of the vector field F = ( e y cos z , x 4 + 1 sin z , 3 π ) \vec{F}=\left(e^y\cos z, \sqrt{x^4+1}\sin z,\frac{3}{\pi}\right) through the surface S S given by z = ( 1 x 2 y 2 ) e 1 x 2 y 2 z=(1-x^2-y^2)e^{1-x^2-y^2} and x 2 + y 2 1 x^2+y^2\leq 1 .

(from a recent test on vector calculus)


The answer is 3.

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1 solution

Steven Chase
Dec 3, 2018

Not nearly as painful as it looks, and a very clever question. Consider a closed surface formed by the given open surface, and the unit disk centered on the origin in the x y xy plane. From the divergence theorem:

S F n d S = V F d V \int \int_S \vec{F} \cdot \vec{n} \, dS = \int \int \int_V \nabla \cdot \vec{F} \, dV

Since F x F_x does not contain x x , F y F_y does not contain y y , and F z F_z does not contain z z , the divergence is zero. Therefore the net flux through the closed surface must be zero. A very useful consequence of this is that the fluxes through the unit disk and the defined surface must be equal and opposite. Consider a reduced F \vec{F} on the unit disk in the x y xy plane, as well as the outward-facing normal vector (relative to the overall closed surface):

F r e d u c e d = ( e y , 0 , 3 π ) n = ( 0 , 0 , 1 ) unit disk F n d S = u d 3 π d S = 3 π u d d S = 3 π S = 3 π π = 3 \vec{F}_{reduced} = \Big( e^y, 0, \frac{3}{\pi} \Big ) \\ \vec{n} = (0,0,-1) \\ \int \int_{\text{unit disk}} \vec{F} \cdot \vec{n} \, dS = \int \int_{ud} -\frac{3}{\pi} dS = -\frac{3}{\pi} \int \int_{ud} dS = -\frac{3}{\pi} S = -\frac{3}{\pi} \, \pi = -3

Since the flux associated with the upper surface cancels this, it must be 3 \boxed{3}

Very lucid and detailed explanation, as usual! Thank you!

I did not know that there is such a thing as F r e d u c e d \vec{F}_{reduced} ; I will add the term to my maths vocabulary ;) I learned this stuff mostly from Soviet textbooks; things were done a bit differently (but very well in their own way).

Otto Bretscher - 2 years, 6 months ago

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Well see, I'm not a mathematician. So I just make up whatever I want :). Thanks

Steven Chase - 2 years, 6 months ago

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You could have fooled me (not being a mathematician); I can't think of anybody on Brilliant who writes mathematics better than you do.

Otto Bretscher - 2 years, 6 months ago

Interesting. That explains the earlier reference to Ostrogradsky

Steven Chase - 2 years, 6 months ago

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I believe that Ostrogradsky was indeed the first to prove the theorem; that's what my Soviet textbook says ;)

Otto Bretscher - 2 years, 6 months ago

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