Find the outward flux of the vector field through a regular hexagonal surface whose vertices satisfy the equations and .
As your answer, return the integer nearest to .
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I will use a combination of symmetry considerations and "brute force." I hope that somebody will come up with a more elegant solution.
The given plane 2 x + y − 2 z = 3 has a distance of 2 2 + 1 2 + ( − 2 ) 2 3 = 1 from the origin; we can rotate the plane into z = 1 without changing the flux. Thus we can consider a hexagonal surface with its vertices at z = 1 and x 2 + y 2 = 1 . We can place two vertices at P ( cos α , sin α , 1 ) and Q ( cos α , − sin α , 1 ) where α = 6 π . The flux Φ we seek is six times the upward flux through the equilateral triangle with its vertices at P , Q and ( 0 , 0 , 1 ) .
The upward flux density through the plane z = 1 is F ⋅ n = F ⋅ k = ( x 2 + y 2 + 1 ) 3 / 2 1 . Thus Φ = 6 ∫ 0 cos α ∫ − ( tan α ) x ( tan α ) x ( x 2 + y 2 + 1 ) 3 / 2 1 d y d x = 1 2 arctan ( 6 ) − 4 π ≈ 1 . 6 3 2 0 3
The required answer is 1 6 3 2 .