Give the outward-normal-first boundary orientation. The Generalized Stokes theorem states that, for every compactly supported -form ,
Choose an oriented coordinate cover by charts into or the half-space , and choose a partition of unity subordinate to it. Since the family is locally finite and has compact support, only finitely many are nonzero. It is therefore legitimate to write both integrals as finite sums and prove the identity for a form supported in one chart.
In an interior chart the integral of an exact compactly supported top form is zero by the fundamental theorem of calculus. In a boundary chart write
Integrating coordinate by coordinate kills every tangential derivative. The normal derivative leaves precisely the restriction to , with the sign selected by the outward-normal-first convention. This is , proving the theorem.
On the Euclidean unit ball ,
The outward unit normal along is the radial vector field , so part b gives
Let on the ball and put . Direct use of the exterior derivative gives . Therefore the Generalized Stokes theorem yields
This proves the volume of a Euclidean unit sphere formula.
The -dimensional volume of the Euclidean unit sphere equals times the -dimensional volume of its unit ball. If is the radial vector field and , then , and the Generalized Stokes theorem proves the formula.