Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2011 / ia / Paper 3 / 3C / Solution

Differentiate the position vector with respect to each of the spherical polar coordinates. The derivatives areTheir lengths give the scale factors of orthogonal coordinates:Dividing the derivatives by these lengths yieldsEach has unit length. For example, ${\mathbf{e}}_r\cdot {\mathbf{e}}_{\theta }=\sin \theta \cos \theta ({\cos }^2\varphi +{\sin }^2\varphi )-\cos \theta \sin \theta =0$; the other two dot products vanish because their first two terms cancel. Thus these are mutually orthogonal vectors, and the total differential has the required form. The coordinates degenerate at $r=0$ and on the polar axis, but this does not affect an area integral.

On the parametrized surface $\theta =\alpha$, use $r,\varphi$ as parameters. The surface integral area element isFor $0\le \alpha \le \pi$, its lateral area, with no closing disk, is thereforeAt $\alpha =0,\pi$ the surface collapses to a line and its area is zero.