Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
3 xy 2 3 xy 2 2
F(x, y, z) = (2xyz + ye ,x z + xe , 3x y z + cos z).
We first check if it is conservative by calculating its curl, which in terms of the components of F, is
F3 F2 F1 F3 F2 F1
curl F = ( , , ).
y z z x x y
Since
F3 F2
2 2
= = 3x z
y z
F1 F3
2
= = 6xyz
z x
F2 F1
3 xy
= = 2xz + (1 + xy)e ,
x y
the curl of F is zero. The vector field is defined in all R , which is simply connected, so F is conservative.
3
We need to find a potential function f (x, y, z) that satisfies f = F , i.e., the three conditions
f
3 xy
(x, y, z) = 2xyz + ye
x
f
2 3 xy
(x, y, z) = x z + xe
y
f
2 2
(x, y, z) = 3x yz + cos z.
z
f
We start with the first condition involving . We integrate with respect to x, viewing y and z as constants, to obtain that
x
2 3 xy
f (x, y, z) = x yz +e + g(y, z).
Since we viewed y and z as constants, the constant of integration g(y, z) can be an arbitrary function of y and z. You can
verify that f (x, y, z) does satisfy the first condition.
Now, we simply need to determine what g(y, z) must be for f to satisfy the remaining two conditions involving derivatives
with respect to y and z. Let's differentiate our new expression for f with respect to y , obtaining
f g
2 3 xy
(x, y, z) = x z + xe + (y, z)
y y
f
We need to f to satisfy the second condition, above, involving . For this to be true, we require
y
g
(y, z) = 0.
y
g
Since F is conservative, this equation for must be a function of y and z alone (and not involve x). If x appeared, we
y
would know we had made a mistake somewhere. Since x is absent, we can keep going.
g
In this case, since we need (y, z) = 0 , we conclude that g(y, z) cannot depend on y . It must be a function of z alone,
y
2 3 xy
f (x, y, z) = x yz +e + h(z)
f
We have one more condition to satisfy, the one involving . We differentiate our new expression for f with respect to z:
z
f dh
2 2
= 3x y z + (z).
z dz
For f (x, y, z) to satisfy the third condition for f , the function h(z) must satisfy
dh
(z) = cos z.
dz
h(z) = sin z + k
for an arbitrary constant k. A potential function can only be determined up to an arbitrary constant, since we only have
conditions on its derivatives. But, line integrals of F depend only on differences among the values of f (x, y, z) . The constant
k will always cancel out, so we can just set k = 0 .
3 xy 2 3 xy 2 2
F(x, y, z) = (2xyz + ye ,x z + xe , 3x y z + cos z).
is
2 3 xy
f (x, y, z) = x yz +e + sin z.
F ds = f (q) f (p)
C
independent of the path taken by C . Although we had to do a lot of work to calculate f , the last step of computing the
integral is simple.
If C is the arc of a helix parametrized by c(t) = (cos t, sin t, t) for 0 t /2 , the line integral of F is simply
F ds = f (c(/2)) f (c(0))
C
See also
The gradient theorem for line integrals
How to determine if a vector field is conservative
Finding a potential function for conservative vector fields
Testing if three-dimensional vector fields are conservative
Lighten up
An introduction to conservative vector fields
Cite this as
Nykamp DQ, Finding a potential function for three-dimensional conservative vector fields. From Math Insight.
http://mathinsight.org/conservative_vector_field_find_potential_3d
Finding a potential function for three-dimensional conservative vector fields by Duane Q. Nykamp is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License. For permissions beyond the scope of this license,
please contact us.