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Finding a po en ial f nc ion fo con e a i e ec o field - Ma h In igh

Math Insight
Finding a potential function for conservative vector fields
The process of finding a potential function of a conservative vector field is a multi-step procedure that involves both integration and differentiation, while paying close attention to the variables you are integrating or differentiating with respect to. For this reason, given a vector field , we recommend that you first determine that that is indeed conservative before beginning this procedure. That way you know a potential function exists so the procedure should work out in the end. In this page, we focus on finding a potential function of a two-dimensional conservative vector field. We address three-dimensional fields in another page. We introduce the procedure for finding a potential function via an example. Let's use the vector field
.)y2 yx2 + x nis ,
2

ma hin igh .o g/con e a i e_ ec o _field_find_po en ial

F = f

Since is conservative, we know there exists some potential function so that toward finding , we observe that the condition means that
f
2

.)y2 yx2 + x nis ,

y + x soc y( = ) 2F , 1F( = )

F = f

Next, we observe that is defined on all of is indeed conservative.

F

, so there are no tricks to worry about. The vector field

.0 =

we conclude that the scalar curl of

is zero, as

y2 + x soc = )y2 yx2 + x nis(

,y2 + x soc = )

y + x soc y(

The first step is to check if

is conservative. Since

y + x soc y( = )y ,x( F

. As a first step

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Finding a po en ial f nc ion fo con e a i e ec o field - Ma h In igh

This vector equation is two scalar equations, one for each component. We need to find a function that satisfies the two conditions
)1(
2

and
)2( .y2 yx2 + x nis = )y ,x( f

Let's take these conditions one by one and see if we can find an that satisfies both of them. (We know this is possible since is conservative. If were path-dependent, the procedure that follows would hit a snag somewhere.) Let's start with condition . We can take the equation
,
2

and treat as though it were a number. In other words, we pretend that the equation is
2

But, then we have to remember that really was the variable so that
.C + x y
2

ma hin igh .o g/con e a i e_ ec o _field_find_po en ial

)3(

)y ,x(f

)2(

Now, we need to satisfy condition

)3(

)y ,x(f

satisfied for the

of equation

. . We can take the

of equation

(so we know
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)1(

0 = )y( g

)y( g

. Since

does not depend on , we can conclude that

. Indeed, condition

)y ,x(f

If you are still skeptical, try taking the partial derivative with respect to
)3(

of

defined by equation is

But actually, that's not right yet either. Since we were viewing as a constant, the integration constant could be a function of and it wouldn't make a difference. The partial derivative of any function of with respect to is zero. We can replace with any function of , say , and condition will be satisfied. A new expression for the potential function is
)3( )1( )y( g .)y( g + x y y
2

for some number . We can integrate the equation with respect to

.C + x a + x nis a = )x(f
2

)y ,x(f

y + x soc y = )y ,x(

y + x soc y = )y ,x(

a + x soc a = )x(

y + x nis y = )y ,x(f

y + x nis y = )y ,x(f

xd

fd

)1(

)y ,x(f C

and obtain that

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)1( F

Finding a po en ial f nc ion fo con e a i e ec o field - Ma h In igh

y

that condition

will be satisfied) and take its partial derivative with respect to , obtaining
.)y( y yd gd + xy2 + x nis = ))y( g + x
2

If the vector field had been path-dependent, we would have found it impossible to satisfy both condition and condition . We would have run into trouble at this point, as we would have calculation verifies that If we let
k+
2

is conservative.

for some constant , then

,y2 xy2 + x nis = )y ,x( f k

and we have satisfied both conditions. Combining this definition of with equation , we conclude that the function
k+
2

With this in hand, calculating the integral

sd F

is simple, no matter what path is. We can apply the gradient theorem to conclude that the integral is simply , where is the beginning point and is the ending point of . (For this reason, if is a closed curve, the integral is zero.)
C q p C )p(f ) q(f C

ma hin igh .o g/con e a i e_ ec o _field_find_po en ial

.)y ,x( F = )y2 yx2 + x nis ,

y + x soc y( = f

.F

is a potential function for

You can verify that indeed

yd

gd

yx

y + x nis y = )y ,x(f

y = )y( g

)3(

)y( g

yd

gd

found that

would have to be a function of

as well as . Since

is a function of

)y ,x(f

.y2 = )y(

yd

gd

)2(

)2(

Comparing this to condition as long as

)2(

, we are in luck. We can easily make this

y + x nis y ( y

= )y ,x(

f y )1(

satisfy condition

alone, our

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Finding a po en ial f nc ion fo con e a i e ec o field - Ma h In igh

We might like to give a problem such as find

sd F F 0 = k 2+ .sd F 9 2

The answer is simply

)2 ,(f )1 ,2/(f = sd F

If the curve is complicated, one hopes that is conservative. It's alwa s a good idea to check if conservative before computing its line integral
F C

You might save yourself a lot of work.

Cite this as Nykamp DQ, Finding a potential function for conservative vector fields. From Ma h In igh . http://mathinsight.org/conservative_vector_field_find_potential Keywords: conservative, gradient theorem, path independent, potential function

ma hin igh .o g/con e a i e_ ec o _field_find_po en ial

(The constant

is always guaranteed to cancel, so you could just set

)k + 4 4 )(nis 2( k + 1

= 3+

+ 2/ nis =

+ 2/ nis =

where

is the curve given by the following graph.

.) is

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Finding a po en ial f nc ion fo con e a i e ec o field - Ma h In igh

Finding a potential function for conservative vector fields by Duane Q. Nykamp is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License. For permissions beyond the scope of this license, please contact us.

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