Greens Theorem

Let C be a simple closed curve on the xy-plane and R the region

consisting of all points inside and on C. A positive orientation
of C refers to a single counterclockwise traversal of C, i.e., the
region R is always on your left as you traverse C.

I
2. Evaluate

~ dR,
~ where F
~ (x, y) = x3 y 3 , x3 + y 3 and
F

C is the positively oriented boundary of the region above

the x-axis between the circles x2 + y 2 = 1 and x2 + y 2 = 9.

Suppose a region R is bounded by C which consists of two disjoint simple closed curves C1 and C2 , with C1 inside C2 . Then a
positive orientation of C is a clockwise traversal of C1 and counterclockwise traversal of C2 .

Notation. We denote the line integral of a two-dimensional

vecI
~ along a positively oriented closed path C by
~ dR.
~
tor field F
F
C

Theorem. Greens Theorem

Let C be a positively oriented closed curve in the plane and R be
~ (x, y) = hP (x, y), Q(x, y)i is such
the region bounded by C. If F
that P and Q have continuous partial derivatives on C, then

I
Z Z
Q
P
~ dR
~ =
F

dA.
x
y
C
R

Examples.
I
1. Evaluate

xy 2 dx + x3 dy, where C is the positively ori-

ented boundary of the rectangle with vertices at (0, 0),

(2, 0), (2, 3) and (0, 3)

y
e x tan(x + 1) y dx + 2x + ln
dy,
cos y
C
2
where C is traced by the parabola y = x from (0, 0) to
(1, 1) followed by the parabola x = y 2 from (1, 1) to (0, 0).

3. Evaluate

Application. Let R be the region bounded by a positively oriented simple closed curve C. The area A of R is given by
I
1
A=
x dy y dx .
2 C

Example. Find a general formula for the area of the region

x2
y2
bounded by an ellipse 2 + 2 = 1.
a
b

dee.leyson
1st Sem 2010-2011
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