Cauchys Integral Theorem

David Sirajuddin
Itcanbeshown.com March 22, 2008

Theorem. If a function is analytic at all points interior to and on a simple closed contour C, then f (z )dz = 0.
C

Proof. Let the simple closed contour C have the parametric representation z = z (t)(a t b), for the real-valued numbers a and b. If f is analytic, it is also integrable, enabling its integration over C to be written down as the following:
b

f (z )dz =
C a

f [z (t)]z (t)dt

(1)

If f (z ) = u(x, y ) + iv (x, y ) and z (t) = x(t) + y (t) Then Eqn. (1) can alteratively be expressed as
b

f (z )dz =
C a b

(u + iv )(x + y )dt
b

=
a

(ux vy )dt + i
a

(vx + uy )dt

(2)

Where it has been noted that the dierentiation of z with respect to the independent parameter t yields z (t) = x (t) + iy (t). Furthermore, the following identications allow the above equation to be expressed in terms of x and y : x (t)dt dx and y (t)dt dy

Thus, the parametrization of Eqn. (2) can be removed f (z )dz =

C C

(udx vdy ) + i
C

(vdx + udy )

(3)

These two integrals are of the general form (P dx + Qdy ) =

C

Q P x y

dA

Sirajuddin, David

Cauchys Integral Theorem

Where the latter expression is allowable by Greens theorem provided that the two functions P (x, y ) and Q(x, y ) and their rst-order partial derivatives are continuous throughout a region R that is prescribed as the set of all points interior to and on the contour C . Applying this to Eqn. (3) admits the following: f (z )dz =
C R

v u x y

dA + i
R

u v x x

dA

Finally, invoking the Cauchy-Riemann equations du v = dx y and u v = x x

Both the integrands are found to be identically zero, verifying the theorem.

References
1. Barrett, David. Math 555 - Complex Variables and Applications Notes, October 1, 2007.