Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/ia/paper-3/12c/d/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 3 12C d Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Set . The first two components of the curl vanish since the horizontal components are independent of and the last component depends only on . For the third,so this is a curl-free vector field everywhere in its domain:Choose the orientation in which the projection onto the -plane runs counterclockwise, and parametrizeOn this curve the horizontal contribution is , while the vertical contribution is . Its integral over a closed curve is zero. Thereforewith for the opposite orientation. This does not contradict Stokes theorem: the planar disk spanning this curve meets the excluded -axis at , where the vector field is undefined. The horizontal one-form is the angular differential and records one winding about that axis; thus this curl-free vector field has no single-valued global potential of a conservative vector field on its domain.
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