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Stokes'theorem
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Invectorcalculus,andmoregenerallydifferentialgeometry,Stokes'theorem(alsocalledthegeneralized
Stokes'theorem)isastatementabouttheintegrationofdifferentialformsonmanifolds,whichboth
simplifiesandgeneralizesseveraltheoremsfromvectorcalculus.Stokes'theoremsaysthattheintegralofa
differentialformovertheboundaryofsomeorientablemanifoldisequaltotheintegralofitsexterior
derivativedoverthewholeof,i.e.

ThismodernformofStokes'theoremisavastgeneralizationofaclassicalresult.LordKelvin
communicatedittoGeorgeStokesinaletterdatedJuly2,1850.[1][2][3]Stokessetthetheoremasaquestion
onthe1854Smith'sPrizeexam,whichledtotheresultbearinghisname,eventhoughitwasactuallyfirst
publishedbyHermannHankelin1861.[3][4]ThisclassicalKelvinStokestheoremrelatesthesurface
integralofthecurlofavectorfieldFoverasurfaceinEuclideanthreespacetothelineintegralofthe
vectorfieldoveritsboundary:

Thisclassicalstatement,alongwiththeclassicaldivergencetheorem,fundamentaltheoremofcalculus,and
Green'stheoremaresimplyspecialcasesofthegeneralformulationstatedabove.

Contents
1Introduction
2Generalformulation
3Topologicalpreliminariesintegrationoverchains
4Underlyingprinciple
5Specialcases
5.1KelvinStokestheorem
5.2Green'stheorem
5.2.1Inelectromagnetism
5.3Divergencetheorem
6Notes
7Furtherreading
8Externallinks

Introduction

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Thefundamentaltheoremofcalculusstatesthattheintegralofafunctionfovertheinterval[a,b]canbe
calculatedbyfindinganantiderivativeFoff:

Stokes'theoremisavastgeneralizationofthistheoreminthefollowingsense.
BythechoiceofF,
.Intheparlanceofdifferentialforms,thisissayingthatf(x)dxisthe
exteriorderivativeofthe0form,i.e.function,F:inotherwords,thatdF=fdx.ThegeneralStokes
theoremappliestohigherdifferentialformsinsteadofjust0formssuchasF.
Aclosedinterval[a,b]isasimpleexampleofaonedimensionalmanifoldwithboundary.Its
boundaryisthesetconsistingofthetwopointsaandb.Integratingfovertheintervalmaybe
generalizedtointegratingformsonahigherdimensionalmanifold.Twotechnicalconditionsare
needed:themanifoldhastobeorientable,andtheformhastobecompactlysupportedinorderto
giveawelldefinedintegral.
Thetwopointsaandbformtheboundaryoftheopeninterval.Moregenerally,Stokes'theorem
appliestoorientedmanifoldsMwithboundary.TheboundaryMofMisitselfamanifoldand
inheritsanaturalorientationfromthatofthemanifold.Forexample,thenaturalorientationofthe
intervalgivesanorientationofthetwoboundarypoints.Intuitively,ainheritstheopposite
orientationasb,astheyareatoppositeendsoftheinterval.So,"integrating"Fovertwoboundary
pointsa,bistakingthedifferenceF(b)F(a).
Inevensimplerterms,onecanconsiderthatpointscanbethoughtofastheboundariesofcurves,thatisas
0dimensionalboundariesof1dimensionalmanifolds.So,justasonecanfindthevalueofanintegral(fdx
=dF)overa1dimensionalmanifolds([a,b])byconsideringtheantiderivative(F)atthe0dimensional
boundaries([a,b]),onecangeneralizethefundamentaltheoremofcalculus,withafewadditionalcaveats,
todealwiththevalueofintegrals(d)overndimensionalmanifolds()byconsideringtheantiderivative
()atthe(n1)dimensionalboundaries(d)ofthemanifold.
Sothefundamentaltheoremreads:

Generalformulation
Letbeanorientedsmoothmanifoldofdimensionnandletbeanndifferentialformthatiscompactly
supportedon.First,supposethatiscompactlysupportedinthedomainofasingle,orientedcoordinate
chart{U,}.Inthiscase,wedefinetheintegralofoveras

i.e.,viathepullbackoftoRn.

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Moregenerally,theintegralofoverisdefinedasfollows:Let{i}beapartitionofunityassociated
withalocallyfinitecover{Ui,i}of(consistentlyoriented)coordinatecharts,thendefinetheintegral

whereeachterminthesumisevaluatedbypullingbacktoRnasdescribedabove.Thisquantityiswell
definedthatis,itdoesnotdependonthechoiceofthecoordinatecharts,northepartitionofunity.
Stokes'theoremreads:Ifisan(n1)formwithcompactsupportonanddenotestheboundaryof
withitsinducedorientation,then

Heredistheexteriorderivative,whichisdefinedusingthemanifold
structureonly.Onther.h.s.,acircleissometimesusedwithintheintegral
signtostressthefactthatthe(n1)manifoldisclosed.[5]Ther.h.s.of
theequationisoftenusedtoformulateintegrallawsthel.h.s.thenleads
toequivalentdifferentialformulations(seebelow).
Thetheoremisoftenusedinsituationswhereisanembeddedoriented
submanifoldofsomebiggermanifoldonwhichtheformisdefined.
Aproofbecomesparticularlysimpleifthesubmanifoldisasocalled
"normalmanifold",asinthefigureonther.h.s.,whichcanbesegmented
intoverticalstripes(e.g.paralleltothexndirection),suchthataftera

A"normal"integration
manifold(herecalledD
insteadof)forthespecial
casen=2

partialintegrationconcerningthisvariable,nontrivialcontributionscomeonlyfromtheupperandlower
boundarysurfaces(colouredinyellowandred,respectively),wherethecomplementarymutualorientations
arevisiblethroughthearrows.

Topologicalpreliminariesintegrationoverchains
LetMbeasmoothmanifold.AsmoothsingularksimplexofMisasmoothmapfromthestandardsimplex
inRktoM.Thefreeabeliangroup,Sk,generatedbysingularksimplicesissaidtoconsistofsingulark
chainsofM.Thesegroups,togetherwithboundarymap,,defineachaincomplex.Thecorresponding
homology(resp.cohomology)iscalledthesmoothsingularhomology(resp.cohomology)ofM.
Ontheotherhand,thedifferentialforms,withexteriorderivative,d,astheconnectingmap,formacochain
complex,whichdefinesdeRhamcohomology.
Differentialkformscanbeintegratedoveraksimplexinanaturalway,bypullingbacktoRk.Extending
bylinearityallowsonetointegrateoverchains.Thisgivesalinearmapfromthespaceofkformstothek
thgroupinthesingularcochain,Sk*,thelinearfunctionalsonSk.Inotherwords,akformdefinesa
functional
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onthekchains.Stokes'theoremsaysthatthisisachainmapfromdeRhamcohomologytosingular
cohomologytheexteriorderivative,d,behaveslikethedualofonforms.Thisgivesahomomorphism
fromdeRhamcohomologytosingularcohomology.Onthelevelofforms,thismeans:
1. closedforms,i.e.,d=0,havezerointegraloverboundaries,i.e.overmanifoldsthatcanbewritten
as
,and
2. exactforms,i.e.,=d,havezerointegralovercycles,i.e.iftheboundariessumuptotheemptyset:
.
DeRham'stheoremshowsthatthishomomorphismisinfactanisomorphism.Sotheconverseto1and2
aboveholdtrue.Inotherwords,if{ci}arecyclesgeneratingthekthhomologygroup,thenforany
correspondingrealnumbers,{ai},thereexistaclosedform,,suchthat

andthisformisuniqueuptoexactforms.

Underlyingprinciple
Tosimplifythesetopologicalarguments,itisworthwhiletoexaminethe
underlyingprinciplebyconsideringanexampleford=2dimensions.
Theessentialideacanbeunderstoodbythediagramontheleft,which
showsthat,inanorientedtilingofamanifold,theinteriorpathsare
traversedinoppositedirectionstheircontributionstothepathintegral
thuscanceleachotherpairwise.Asaconsequence,onlythecontribution
fromtheboundaryremains.ItthussufficestoproveStokes'theoremfor
sufficientlyfinetilings(or,equivalently,simplices),whichusuallyisnotdifficult.

Specialcases
ThegeneralformoftheStokestheoremusingdifferentialformsismorepowerfulandeasiertousethanthe
specialcases.ThetraditionalversionscanbeformulatedusingCartesiancoordinateswithoutthemachinery
ofdifferentialgeometry,andthusaremoreaccessible.Further,theyareolderandtheirnamesaremore
familiarasaresult.Thetraditionalformsareoftenconsideredmoreconvenientbypracticingscientistsand
engineersbutthenonnaturalnessofthetraditionalformulationbecomesapparentwhenusingother
coordinatesystems,evenfamiliaroneslikesphericalorcylindricalcoordinates.Thereispotentialfor
confusioninthewaynamesareapplied,andtheuseofdualformulations.

KelvinStokestheorem
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Thisisa(dualized)1+1dimensionalcase,fora1form(dualized
becauseitisastatementaboutvectorfields).Thisspecialcaseis
oftenjustreferredtoastheStokes'theoreminmanyintroductory
universityvectorcalculuscoursesandasusedinphysicsand
engineering.Itisalsosometimesknownasthecurltheorem.
TheclassicalKelvinStokestheorem:

whichrelatesthesurfaceintegralofthecurlofavectorfieldovera
surfaceinEuclideanthreespacetothelineintegralofthevector
AnillustrationoftheKelvinStokes
fieldoveritsboundary,isaspecialcaseofthegeneralStokes
theorem,withsurface,itsboundary
theorem(withn=2)onceweidentifyavectorfieldwitha1form
andthe"normal"vectorn.
usingthemetriconEuclideanthreespace.Thecurveoftheline
integral,,musthavepositiveorientation,meaningthatdrpoints
counterclockwisewhenthesurfacenormal,d,pointstowardtheviewer,followingtherighthandrule.
OneconsequenceoftheKelvinStokestheoremisthatthefieldlinesofavectorfieldwithzerocurlcannot
beclosedcontours.Theformulacanberewrittenas:

whereP,QandRarethecomponentsofF.
Thesevariantsarerarelyused:

Green'stheorem
Green'stheoremisimmediatelyrecognizableasthethirdintegrandofbothsidesintheintegralintermsof
P,Q,andRcitedabove.

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Inelectromagnetism
TwoofthefourMaxwellequationsinvolvecurlsof3Dvectorfieldsandtheirdifferentialandintegral
formsarerelatedbytheKelvinStokestheorem.Cautionmustbetakentoavoidcaseswithmoving
boundaries:thepartialtimederivativesareintendedtoexcludesuchcases.Ifmovingboundariesare
included,interchangeofintegrationanddifferentiationintroducestermsrelatedtoboundarymotionnot
includedintheresultsbelow(seeDifferentiationundertheintegralsign):
Name

Differentialform

MaxwellFaraday
equation
Faraday'slawof
induction:

Integralform(usingKelvinStokestheoremplus
relativisticinvariance,
)

(withCandSnotnecessarilystationary)

Ampre'slaw
(withMaxwell's
extension):

(withC

andSnotnecessarilystationary)
TheabovelistedsubsetofMaxwell'sequationsarevalidforelectromagneticfieldsexpressedinSIunits.In
othersystemsofunits,suchasCGSorGaussianunits,thescalingfactorsforthetermsdiffer.Forexample,
inGaussianunits,Faraday'slawofinductionandAmpre'slawtaketheforms[6][7]

respectively,wherecisthespeedoflightinvacuum.

Divergencetheorem
Likewise,theOstrogradskyGausstheorem(alsoknownasthedivergencetheoremorGauss'stheorem)

isaspecialcaseifweidentifyavectorfieldwiththen1formobtainedbycontractingthevectorfieldwith
theEuclideanvolumeform.Anapplicationofthisisthecase
where isanarbitraryconstant
vector.Workingoutthedivergenceoftheproductgives

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Sincethisholdsforall wefind

Notes
1. See:

2.
3.
4.

5.

VictorJ.Katz(May1979)"ThehistoryofStokes'theorem,"
(http://www.ingelec.uns.edu.ar/asnl/Materiales/Cap03Extras/StokesKatz.pdf)MathematicsMagazine,52
(3):146156.
TheletterfromThomsontoStokesappearsin:WilliamThomsonandGeorgeGabrielStokeswithDavid
B.Wilson,ed.,TheCorrespondencebetweenSirGeorgeGabrielStokesandSirWilliamThomson,Baron
KelvinofLargs,Volume1:18461869(Cambridge,England:CambridgeUniversityPress,1990),pages
9697.(http://books.google.com/books?id=YrjkOEdC83gC&pg=PA97#v=onepage&q&f=false)
NeitherThomsonnorStokespublishedaproofofthetheorem.Thefirstpublishedproofappearedin1861
in:HermannHankel,ZurallgemeinenTheoriederBewegungderFlssigkeiten[Onthegeneraltheoryof
themovementoffluids](Gttingen,(Germany):DieterischeUniversityBuchdruckerei,1861)seepages
3437(http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015035826760#page/34/mode/1up).Hankeldoesn't
mentiontheauthorofthetheorem.
Inafootnote,Larmormentionsearlierresearcherswhohadintegrated,overasurface,thecurlofavector
field.See:GeorgeG.StokeswithSirJosephLarmorandJohnWm.Strutt(BaronRayleigh),ed.s,
MathematicalandPhysicalPapersbythelateSirGeorgeGabrielStokes,...(Cambridge,England:
UniversityofCambridgePress,1905),vol.5,pages320321(http://books.google.com/books?
id=O28ssiqLT9AC&pg=PA320#v=onepage&q&f=false).
OlivierDarrigol,ElectrodynamicsfromAmperetoEinstein,p.146,ISBN0198505930Oxford(2000)
Spivak(1965),p.vii,Preface.
See:
The1854Smith'sPrizeExaminationisavailableonlineat:ClerkMaxwellFoundation
(http://www.clerkmaxwellfoundation.org/SmithsPrizeExam_Stokes.pdf).Maxwelltookthisexamination
andtiedforfirstplacewithEdwardJohnRouthintheSmith'sPrizeexaminationof1854.Seefootnote2
onpage237of:JamesClerkMaxwellwithP.M.Harman,ed.,TheScientificLettersandPapersofJames
ClerkMaxwell,VolumeI:18461862(Cambridge,England:CambridgeUniversityPress,1990),page
237(http://books.google.com/books?id=zfM8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA237#v=onepage&q&f=false)seealso
Wikipedia'sarticle"Smith'sprize"ortheClerkMaxwellFoundation
(http://www.clerkmaxwellfoundation.org/SmithsPrizeSolutions2008_2_14.pdf).
JamesClerkMaxwell,ATreatiseonElectricityandMagnetism(Oxford,England:Clarendon
Press,1873),volume1,pages2527.(http://books.google.com/books?
id=92QSAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA27#v=onepage&q&f=false)Inafootnoteonpage27,Maxwellmentionsthat
Stokesusedthetheoremasquestion8intheSmith'sPrizeExaminationof1854.Thisfootnoteappearsto
havebeenthecauseofthetheorem'sbeingknownas"Stokes'theorem".
Formathematiciansthisfactisknown,thereforethecircleisredundantandoftenomitted.However,oneshould
keepinmindherethatinthermodynamics,wherefrequentlyexpressionsas

appear(wherein

thetotalderivative,seebelow,shouldnotbeconfusedwiththeexteriorone),theintegrationpathWisaone
dimensionalclosedlineonamuchhigherdimensionalmanifold.Thatis,inathermodynamicapplication,where
Uisafunctionofthetemperature
,thevolume
andtheelectricalpolarization
ofthesample,onehas

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andthecircleisreallynecessary,e.g.ifoneconsiders

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thedifferentialconsequencesoftheintegralpostulate
6. J.D.Jackson,ClassicalElectrodynamics,2ndEd(Wiley,NewYork,1975).
7. M.BornandE.Wolf,PrinciplesofOptics,6thEd.(CambridgeUniversityPress,Cambridge,1980).

Furtherreading
Joos,Georg.TheoretischePhysik.13thed.AkademischeVerlagsgesellschaftWiesbaden1980.ISBN
3400000132
Katz,VictorJ.(May1979),"TheHistoryofStokes'Theorem"(http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0025
570X(197905)52%3A3%3C146%3ATHOST%3E2.0.CO%3B2O),MathematicsMagazine52(3):
146156,doi:10.2307/2690275(https://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F2690275)
Marsden,JerroldE.,AnthonyTromba.VectorCalculus.5theditionW.H.Freeman:2003.
Lee,John.IntroductiontoSmoothManifolds.SpringerVerlag2003.ISBN9780387954486
Rudin,Walter(1976),PrinciplesofMathematicalAnalysis,NewYork:McGrawHill,ISBN007
054235X
Spivak,Michael(1965),CalculusonManifolds:AModernApproachtoClassicalTheoremsof
AdvancedCalculus,HarperCollins,ISBN9780805390216
Stewart,James.Calculus:ConceptsandContexts.2nded.PacificGrove,CA:Brooks/Cole,2001.
Stewart,James.Calculus:EarlyTranscendentalFunctions.5thed.Brooks/Cole,2003.

Externallinks
Hazewinkel,Michiel,ed.(2001),"Stokesformula"(http://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php?
title=p/s090310),EncyclopediaofMathematics,Springer,ISBN9781556080104
ProofoftheDivergenceTheoremandStokes'Theorem
(http://higheredbcs.wiley.com/legacy/college/hugheshallett/0471484822/theory/hh_focusontheory_se
ctionm.pdf)
Calculus3StokesTheoremfromlamar.edu
(http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/classes/calcIII/stokestheorem.aspx)anexpositoryexplanation
Retrievedfrom"http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stokes%27_theorem&oldid=663324420"
Categories: Differentialtopology Differentialforms Dualitytheories Integrationonmanifolds
Theoremsincalculus Theoremsindifferentialgeometry
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