Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/ib/paper-1/5c/b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 1 5C b Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
In cylindrical coordinates, the transverse velocity is , so its contribution to the circulation is . The vertical contribution is , the differential of an antiderivative of , and therefore has zero integral around any closed curve. If is the oriented winding number of the curve's projection about the origin, thenIn particular, a single positive winding gives ; reversing orientation reverses the sign. The nonzero circulation is compatible with irrotational flow because the domain is not simply connected. For , an enclosing curve cannot bound a surface contained entirely in the domain to which Stokes theorem would apply.
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