Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2002/ia/paper-3/3a/a/solution

For an exact differential , equality of mixed partial derivatives requires . Here the two partial derivatives are
They are not identically equal, so the differential form is not a closed differential form and hence is not an exact differential. Equality along special lines such as does not supply a potential on a two-dimensional open neighborhood, because every such neighborhood contains points where the two partial derivatives differ.

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