APPM 2350 HOMEWORK 12 FALL 2010

Due Friday, November 19, 2010 at 4 pm under your TA’s door.

1. Let
y x
F~ (x, y) = − î + 2 ĵ .
x2 +y 2 x + y2
(a) Is F~ (x, y) continuous for all x and y? If not, then where is it discontinuous?
(b) Using the convention F~ (x, y) = M (x, y)î + N (x, y)ĵ, show that My = Nx .
(c) If C is any closed contour not around the origin, find
I
F~ · d~r ,
C

and justify your answer.

(d) Let C be Ix2 + y 2 = 2 ,  > 0, where you move in a counter-clockwise fashion around the circle.
Now find F~ · d~r. Note, your answer should be independent of . How can you reconcile your
C
result with the fact that My = Nx ?

2. Now keep F~ the same as the previous problem, but let C be some arbitrary curve around the origin
in the xy-plane. Imagine something like the figure shown immediately below.

I
We are now going to figure out how to find F~ · d~r . To do this, we first look at a similar but slightly
C
different curve as shown in the picture below.

In the modified figure, Ce is a semi-circular arc of radius , l1 and l2 are straight lines that touch
the ends of the arc Ce , and Cd overlaps with C in the first figure except where it touches the lines l1
and l2 . Therefore, the curve C̃ = Cd ∪ l1 ∪ l2 ∪ Ce is a closed curve that does not contain the origin.
Finally, we will assume that we go around C̃ in a counter-clockwise manner.
 y

Ce
l1 l2 x

Cd

I Z Z Z
(a) What is F~ · d~r ? Given your answer, now write F~ · d~r in terms of F~ · d~r , F~ · d~r , and
Z C̃ Cd l1 l2

F~ · d~r .
Ce
(b) Now suppose you let the distance between l1 and l2 go to zero in a way that we get back the
difference between Cd and C, and Ce becomes a circle of radius . What happens to the sum
Z Z
~
F · d~r + F~ · d~r ?
l1 l2

Hint: If you go around C̃ counter-clockwise, then you go up l1 and down l2 . Also, as l1 and l2
get closer, there lengths must approach the same value.
(c) So as we let the lines l1 and l2 fall on top of each other, we see that Cd closes up and becomes
C.
I However, Ce becomes a circle of radius . Now using the two previous problems, what is
F~ · d~r ? Be careful though; if you traverse C in a counter-clockwise fashion, how do you
C
traverse Ce ?