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Lineintegral
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Inmathematics,alineintegralisanintegralwherethefunctiontobeintegratedisevaluatedalongacurve.The
termspathintegral,curveintegral,andcurvilinearintegralarealsousedcontourintegralaswell,althoughthat
istypicallyreservedforlineintegralsinthecomplexplane.
Thefunctiontobeintegratedmaybeascalarfieldoravectorfield.Thevalueofthelineintegralisthesumof
valuesofthefieldatallpointsonthecurve,weightedbysomescalarfunctiononthecurve(commonlyarclength
or,foravectorfield,thescalarproductofthevectorfieldwithadifferentialvectorinthecurve).Thisweighting
distinguishesthelineintegralfromsimplerintegralsdefinedonintervals.Manysimpleformulaeinphysics(for
example,W=Fs)havenaturalcontinuousanalogsintermsoflineintegrals(W=CFds).Thelineintegral
findstheworkdoneonanobjectmovingthroughanatomicorgravitationalfield,forexample.

Contents
1 Vectorcalculus
1.1 Lineintegralofascalarfield
1.1.1 Definition
1.1.2 Derivation
1.2 Lineintegralofavectorfield
1.2.1 Definition
1.2.2 Derivation
1.3 Pathindependence
1.4 Applications
2 Flowacrossacurve
3 Complexlineintegral
3.1 Example
3.2 Relationbetweenthelineintegralofavectorfieldandthecomplexlineintegral
4 Quantummechanics
5 Seealso
6 References
7 Externallinks

Vectorcalculus
Inqualitativeterms,alineintegralinvectorcalculuscanbethoughtofasameasureofthetotaleffectofagiven
fieldalongagivencurve.Morespecifically,thelineintegraloverascalarfieldcanbeinterpretedastheareaunder
thefieldcarvedoutbyaparticularcurve.Thiscanbevisualizedasthesurfacecreatedbyz=f(x,y)andacurveC
inthexyplane.Thelineintegraloffwouldbetheareaofthe"curtain"createdwhenthepointsofthesurfacethat
aredirectlyoverCarecarvedout.

Lineintegralofascalarfield
Definition
Forsomescalarfieldf:URnR,thelineintegralalongapiecewisesmoothcurveCUisdefinedas
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wherer:[a,b]Cisanarbitrarybijective
parametrizationofthecurveCsuchthatr(a)
andr(b)givetheendpointsofCand
.
Thefunctionfiscalledtheintegrand,thecurve
Cisthedomainofintegration,andthesymbol
dsmaybeintuitivelyinterpretedasan
elementaryarclength.Lineintegralsofscalar
fieldsoveracurveCdonotdependonthe
chosenparametrizationrofC.
Geometrically,whenthescalarfieldfisdefined
overaplane(n=2),itsgraphisasurface
z=f(x,y)inspace,andthelineintegralgivesthe
(signed)crosssectionalareaboundedbythe
curveCandthegraphoff.Seetheanimationto
theright.

Thelineintegraloverascalarfieldfcanbethoughtofasthearea
underthecurveCalongasurfacez=f(x,y),describedbythefield.

Derivation
Foralineintegraloverascalarfield,theintegralcanbeconstructedfromaRiemannsumusingtheabove
definitionsoff,CandaparametrizationrofC.Thiscanbedonebypartitioningtheinterval[a,b]intonsub
intervals[ti1,ti]oflengtht=(ba)/n,thenr(ti)denotessomepoint,callitasamplepoint,onthecurveC.We
canusethesetofsamplepoints{r(ti):1in}toapproximatethecurveCbyapolygonalpathbyintroducinga
straightlinepiecebetweeneachofthesamplepointsr(ti1)andr(ti).Wethenlabelthedistancebetweeneachof
thesamplepointsonthecurveassi.Theproductoff(r(ti))andsicanbeassociatedwiththesignedareaofa
rectanglewithaheightandwidthoff(r(ti))andsirespectively.Takingthelimitofthesumofthetermsasthe
lengthofthepartitionsapproacheszerogivesus

Wenotethat,bythemeanvaluetheorem,thedistancebetweensubsequentpointsonthecurve,is

SubstitutingthisintheaboveRiemannsumyields

whichistheRiemannsumfortheintegral

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Lineintegralofavectorfield
Definition
ForavectorfieldF:URnRn,thelineintegralalongapiecewisesmoothcurveCU,inthedirectionofr,
isdefinedas

whereisthedotproductandr:[a,b]CisabijectiveparametrizationofthecurveCsuchthatr(a)andr(b)
givetheendpointsofC.
Alineintegralofascalarfieldisthusalineintegralofavectorfieldwherethevectorsarealwaystangentialtothe
line.
Lineintegralsofvectorfieldsareindependentoftheparametrizationrinabsolutevalue,buttheydodependonits
orientation.Specifically,areversalintheorientationoftheparametrizationchangesthesignofthelineintegral.
Thelineintegralofavectorfieldalongacurveistheintegralofthecorresponding1formunderthemusical
isomorphismoverthecurveconsideredasanimmersed1manifold.
Derivation
Thelineintegralofavectorfieldcanbederivedinamannerverysimilartothecaseofascalarfield.Howeverthis
timewiththeinclusionofadotproduct.AgainusingtheabovedefinitionsofF,Canditsparametrizationr(t),we
constructtheintegralfromaRiemannsum.Partitiontheinterval[a,b]intonintervalsoflengtht=(ba)/n.
Lettingtibetheithpointon[a,b],thenr(ti)givesusthepositionoftheithpointonthecurve.However,insteadof
calculatingupthedistancesbetweensubsequentpoints,weneedtocalculatetheirdisplacementvectors,ri.As
before,evaluatingFatallthepointsonthecurveandtakingthedotproductwitheachdisplacementvectorgives
ustheinfinitesimalcontributionofeachpartitionofFonC.Lettingthesizeofthepartitionsgotozerogivesusa
sum

Bythemeanvaluetheorem,weseethatthedisplacementvectorbetweenadjacentpointsonthecurveis

SubstitutingthisintheaboveRiemannsumyields

whichistheRiemannsumfortheintegraldefinedabove.

Pathindependence
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IfavectorfieldFisthegradientofa
scalarfieldG(i.e.ifFisconservative),
thatis,

thenthederivativeofthecomposition
ofGandr(t)is

Thetrajectoryofaparticle(inred)alongacurveinsideavectorfield.
Startingfroma,theparticletracesthepathCalongthevectorfieldF.Thedot
product(greenline)ofitsdisplacementvector(redarrow)andthefieldvector
(bluearrow)definesanareaunderacurve,whichisequivalenttothepath's
lineintegral.(Clickonimageforadetaileddescription.)

whichhappenstobetheintegrandforthelineintegralofFonr(t).Itfollowsthat,givenapathC,then

Inotherwords,theintegralofFoverCdependssolelyonthevaluesofGinthepointsr(b)andr(a)andisthus
independentofthepathbetweenthem.
Forthisreason,alineintegralofaconservativevectorfieldiscalledpathindependent.

Applications
Thelineintegralhasmanyusesinphysics.Forexample,theworkdoneonaparticletravelingonacurveCinside
aforcefieldrepresentedasavectorfieldFisthelineintegralofFonC.

Flowacrossacurve
ForavectorfieldF:UR2R2,suchas
smoothcurveCU,isdefinedas
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thelineintegralacrossapiecewise
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whereisthedotproductandr:[a,b]C,
suchthatr(a)andr(b)givetheendpointsofC.

isabijectiveparametrizationofthecurveC

Complexlineintegral
Incomplexanalysis,thelineintegralisdefinedintermsofmultiplicationandadditionofcomplexnumbers.
SupposeUisanopensubsetofthecomplexplaneC,f:UCisafunction,and
isacurveoffinite
length,parametrizedby
,where
Thelineintegral

maybedefinedbysubdividingtheinterval[a,b]intoa=t0<t1<...<tn=bandconsideringtheexpression

TheintegralisthenthelimitofthisRiemannsumasthelengthsofthesubdivisionintervalsapproachzero.
Iftheparametrization iscontinuouslydifferentiable,thelineintegralcanbeevaluatedasanintegralofafunction
ofarealvariable:

When isaclosedcurve,thatis,itsinitialandfinalpointscoincide,thenotation

isoftenusedforthelineintegraloffalong .Aclosedcurvelineintegralissometimesreferredtoasacyclic
integralinengineeringapplications.
Thelineintegralwithrespecttotheconjugatecomplexdifferential

isdefined[1]tobe

Thelineintegralsofcomplexfunctionscanbeevaluatedusinganumberoftechniques:theintegralmaybesplit
intorealandimaginarypartsreducingtheproblemtothatofevaluatingtworealvaluedlineintegrals,theCauchy
integralformulamaybeusedinothercircumstances.Ifthelineintegralisaclosedcurveinaregionwherethe
functionisanalyticandcontainingnosingularities,thenthevalueoftheintegralissimplyzerothisisa
consequenceoftheCauchyintegraltheorem.Theresiduetheoremallowscontourintegralstobeusedinthe
complexplanetofindintegralsofrealvaluedfunctionsofarealvariable(seeresiduetheoremforanexample).

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Example
Considerthefunctionf(z)=1/z,andletthecontourLbetheunitcircleabout0,parametrizedby(t)=eitwithtin[0,
2](whichgeneratesthecirclecounterclockwise).Substituting,wefind

Herewehaveusedthefactthatanycomplexnumberzcanbewrittenasreitwhereristhemodulusofz.Onthe
unitcirclethisisfixedto1,sotheonlyvariableleftistheangle,whichisdenotedbyt.Thisanswercanbealso
verifiedbyCauchy'sintegralformula.

Relationbetweenthelineintegralofavectorfieldandthecomplexlineintegral
Viewingcomplexnumbersas2dimensionalvectors,thelineintegralofa2dimensionalvectorfieldcorresponds
totherealpartofthelineintegraloftheconjugateofthecorrespondingcomplexfunctionofacomplexvariable.
Morespecifically,if
isaparameterizationofLand
,then:

providedthatbothintegralsontherighthandsideexist,andthattheparametrization ofLhasthesame
orientationas (justexpandtheRiemannsumforthelefthandintegralandtakethelimit).
ByGreen'stheorem,theareaofaregionenclosedbyasmooth,closed,positivelyorientedcurve isgivenbythe
integral

Thisfactisused,forexample,intheproofoftheareatheorem.
DuetotheCauchyRiemannequationsthecurlofthevectorfieldcorrespondingtotheconjugateofaholomorphic
functioniszero.ThisrelatesthroughStokes'theorembothtypesoflineintegralbeingzero.

Quantummechanics
The"pathintegralformulation"ofquantummechanicsactuallyrefersnottopathintegralsinthissensebutto
functionalintegrals,thatis,integralsoveraspaceofpaths,ofafunctionofapossiblepath.However,pathintegrals
inthesenseofthisarticleareimportantinquantummechanicsforexample,complexcontourintegrationisoften
usedinevaluatingprobabilityamplitudesinquantumscatteringtheory.

Seealso
Arclength
Divergencetheorem
Functionalintegration
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Gradienttheorem
Green'stheorem
Methodsofcontourintegration
Nachbin'stheorem
Stokes'theorem
Surfaceintegral
Volumeelement
Volumeintegral

References
1.Ahlfors,Lars(1966).ComplexAnalysis(2nded.).NewYork:McGrawHill.p.103.

Externallinks
Hazewinkel,Michiel,ed.(2001),"Integralovertrajectories",EncyclopediaofMathematics,Springer,
ISBN9781556080104
KhanAcademymodules:
"IntroductiontotheLineIntegral"(http://www.khanacademy.org/video/introductiontothelineintegr
al?playlist=Calculus)
"LineIntegralExample1"(http://www.khanacademy.org/video/lineintegralexample1?playlist=Calc
ulus)
"LineIntegralExample2(part1)"(http://www.khanacademy.org/video/lineintegralexample2part
1?playlist=Calculus)
"LineIntegralExample2(part2)"(http://www.khanacademy.org/video/lineintegralexample2part
2?playlist=Calculus)
Pathintegral(http://planetmath.org/LineIntegral)atPlanetMath.org.
ContourIntegralsModulebyJohnH.Mathews(http://math.fullerton.edu/mathews/c2003/ContourIntegralM
od.html)
LineintegralofavectorfieldInteractive(http://mathinsight.org/line_integral_vector_field_introduction)
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