The proof of Greens theorem

N M x y

dxdy =
R

M dx + N dy.

Stages in the proof: 1. Prove the theorem for simple regions by using the fundamental theorem of calculus. 2. (Divide and conquer) Suppose that a region R is cut into two subregions R1 and R2. Then =
R R1

+
R2

,
R

=
R1

+
R2

Thus, if Greens theorem holds for the subregions R1 and R2, it holds for the big region R. 3. Any decent region can be cut up into simple subregions.
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Proof for a simple region

We will look at simple regions of the following sort:
y=d y = f(x), x= g(y)

C3 R

C2

y=c x=a

C1

x=b

The region R is bounded by three curve segments: C1 parallel to the x-axis, C3 parallel to the y-axis, and C2 a curve which may be represented either as y = f (x) or as x = g(y) (f and g are inverse functions). Any decent region can be cut up into nitely many simple regions of this sort.
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For the region R we calculate N dxdy = R x =

c d c d a g(y)

N dx dy x

N (g(y), y) N (a, y) dy

(using the fundamental theorem of calculus)

=
C2

N dy +
C3

N dy

(by denition of the path integral)

=
C

N dy

where in the last step we used the fact that (anything) dy = 0, since y is constant along the C1 curve C1.
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The M term is handled by a similar calculation. Note the use of Fubinis theorem to reverse the order of integration at the beginning. M dydx = y R =
a b a b c f (x)

M dy dx y

M (x, f (x)) M (x, c) dx

C2

= =

M dx

M dx
C1

M dx
C

using now in the last step the fact that (anything) dx = 0. Putting together the M and N C3 calculations we get N M x y dxdy =
C

M dx + N dy

which is Greens theorem for the region R.

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