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A quick question about limits on a line integral involving vector fields.

  1. Evaluate the line integral $\int_CF\cdot\mathrm ds$ where $$F(x,y)=(e^x\sin y+3y,e^x\cos y+2x-2y)$$ and $C$ is the ellipse $4x^2+y^2=4$ choosing the counterclockwise direction. (2 points)

I know that the parametrization of this curve is the following

$$\begin{align} r(t) &= [\cos(t), 2 \sin(t)]\\ r'(t) &= [-\sin(t), 2 \cos(t)] \end{align}$$

and we have our $F(r(t)) = F(x(t), y(t))$ $$F(r(t)) = e^{\cos(t)}\sin(2\sin(t))+6\sin(t), e^{\cos(t)}\cos(2\sin(t)) +2\cos(t)-4\sin(t)$$

and so by brute force we have the formula for the line integral $$ \int_?^? F(r(t)) \cdot r'(t) \,\textrm{d}t $$

What would my limits be in this case? A wild guess would be 0 to $2\pi$

grg
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Tyler Hilton
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    Hint: Holy crow, $F(r(t))\cdot r'(t)$ looks like a hideous function to integrate! Use a handy-dandy theorem involving a way to write a line integral as something else (that seems completely unrelated to line integrals). –  Nov 09 '11 at 07:08
  • yeah but we havn't gotten to stokes or greens theorems yet which is what I suspect I will use to make these easier – Tyler Hilton Nov 09 '11 at 07:12

1 Answers1

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The easiest way to determine the limits of a line integral is simply to look at the function $r(t)$. Since your curve $C$ is an ellipse, your wild guess is right, because $r(t)$ runs over $C$ only once when $r(t)$ runs from $0$ to $2 \pi$. The limits do not depend on the vector field $F$, they must only be such that $r(t)$ runs over $C$ once when $t$ goes over the chosen domain of $r$. What I mean by "once" is that for instance had we chosen $0$ and $4 \pi$ for the limits, you would run over $C$ twice.

Did you just need confirmation or were you actually wondering about something more?

Hope that helps,

Patrick Da Silva
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