Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford / 2015 / Prelims / Mathematics V resit / Question 1 / a / Solution

Here $\varphi$ is a scalar field: the source's description as a vector field is a typographical slip, since the displayed formula is for its gradient. For cylindrical coordinates, write $x=r\cos \theta$, $y=r\sin \theta$. Away from $r=0$, a local choice of $\theta$ gives the partial derivativesThe chain rule therefore givesUse the Cartesian coordinates definition $\nabla \varphi ={\varphi }_x{\mathbf{e}}_x+{\varphi }_y{\mathbf{e}}_y+{\varphi }_z{\mathbf{e}}_z$ and the unit vectorsCollecting their coefficients provesThis is the gradient in cylindrical coordinates. The factor $1/r$ converts a change in angle into a change per unit arc length.