The Gauss Divergence Theorem

Theorem 1 Let F(X) be a continuously dierentiable vector eld in

a domain D R
n
. Let R D be a closed, bounded region whose
boundary is a smooth surface, D. For each point x let (X) be
the unit outward, or exterior, normal to with respect to the region
R. Then, with dX dx
1
dx
2
...dx
n
and with d indicating integration
with respect to surface area on ,
_
R
F(X) dX =
_

F(X) (X) d.
Proof We will give the proof for the case n = 3; much the same
proof can be given in the general n-dimensional situation. Supposing
that
F(X) = F(x, y, z) =
_
_
_
_
f(x, y, z)
g(x, y, z)
h(x, y, z)
_
_
_
_
,
we have
F(X) =
_
f
x
+
g
y
+
h
z
_
(x, y, z).
Thus
_
R
F(X) dX =
_
R
f
x
dX +
_
R
g
y
dX +
_
R
h
z
dX.
Initially we will concentrate our attention on the last integral appearing
here.
We will also initially suppose (see gure on page 5) that the bounding
surface for R consists of an upper surface and a lower surface:

: (x, y, z) = z (x, y) = 0;

: (x, y, z) = z (x, y) = 0,
together with some possible surface components parallel to the z-axis
which we will denote collectively by
z
.
1
If we take a point on the upper surface, namely (x, y, (x, y)), the unit
normal vector there is

(X) =
i

x
j

y
+ k

x
_
2
+
_

y
_
2
+ 1
.
On the lower surface the unit outward normal vector is

(X) =
i

x
+ j

y
k

x
_
2
+
_

y
_
2
+ 1
.
On the upper surface, z = (x, y), the element of surface area is
d =

_
_

x
_
2
+
_

y
_
2
+ 1 dxdy,
while on the lower surface the corresponding surface area element is
d =

_
_

x
_
2
+
_

y
_
2
+ 1 dxdy.
Therefore, with R
xy
denoting the projection of R onto the x, y plane,
_
R
h
z
(x, y, z) dxdy dz =
_
R
xy
_
_
z=(x,y)
z=(x,y)
h
z
(x, y, z) dz
_
dxdy
=
_
R
xy
(h(x, y, (x, y)) h(x, y, (x, y))) dxdy
=
_

h(x, y, (x, y))

d

x
_
2
+
_

y
_
2
+ 1

h(x, y, (x, y))

d

x
_
2
+
_

y
_
2
+ 1
.
2
But we clearly have
1

x
_
2
+
_

y
_
2
+ 1
= k

(X),
1

x
_
2
+
_

y
_
2
+ 1
= k

(X).
Consequently
_
R
h
z
(x, y, z) dxdy dz
=
_

h(x, y, z) k

(X) d +
_

h(x, y, z) k

(X) d.
On
z
we have k (X) 0, so the above can be extended to
_
R
h
z
(x, y, z) dxdy dz =
_

h(x, y, z) k (X) d.
Complicated regions R can be reduced, by means of cuts parallel to the
z-axis to regions satisfying the hypothesis above. So we may assume
the result obtained so far is not limited with respect to the geometry
of R. (See gure on p. 5.)
In the same way we can see that
_
R
f
x
(x, y, z) dxdy dz =
_

f(x, y, z) i (X) d;
_
R
g
y
(x, y, z) dxdy dz =
_

g(x, y, z) j (X) d.
Adding the three results separately obtained for f, g and h we have
_
R
F(X) dX =
_
R
_
f
x
(x, y, z) +
g
y
(x, y, z) +
h
z
(x, y, z)
_
dxdy dz
=
_

(f(x, y, z) i + g(x, y, z) j + h(x, y, z) k) (X) d

=
_

F(X) (X) d
and the theorem is proved.
3
Example 1 Let F(x, y, z) = xi + y j + z k and let be the sphere
of radius 1 in R
3
. We rst compute =
_

F(X) (X) d. Here we

have
(X) =
1

x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
_
_
_
_
x
y
z
_
_
_
_
F(X) (X) =
x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2

x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
=
_
x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
1 on .
So we have
_

F(X) (X) d = 1
_

d = 4.
On the other hand, with R denoting the unit ball inside the unit sphere
as described above, we have
_
R
F(X) dX =
_
R

_
_
_
_
x
y
z
_
_
_
_
dxdy dz =
_
R
3 dxdy dz
= 3
_
R
dxdy dz = 3
4
3
= 4.
The Divergence Theorem equates two dierent integrals; one over
the region R and one over , the boundary of R. It can happen that
one or the other of these integrals is substantially easier to calculate
than the other, so it may be advantageous to switch from one integral
to the other to facilitate computation.
Example 2 Let R and be as in the preceding example, but now
F(X) = F(x, y, z) =
_
_
_
_
x
3
y
3
z
3
_
_
_
_
.
Then
F(X) (X) =
x
4
+ y
4
+ z
4

x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
.
4
In this case the surface integral,
_

x
4
+ y
4
+ z
4

x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
d
is not easy to compute. But F(x, y, z) = 3
_
x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
_
and
thus, using spherical coordinates,
_
R
F(x, y, z) dxdy dz =
_
2
0
_

0
_
1
0
3r
2
r
2
sin dr dd
= 2
_

0
sin d
_
1
0
3r
4
dr = 12
_
1
0
r
4
dr = 12
r
5
5

1
0
=
12
5
.
5