Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford / 2017 / Prelims / Mathematics V / 1 / c

Pair each point $\mathbf{x}$ of the square's boundary with $-\mathbf{x}$. The vector field obeys $\mathbf{f}(-\mathbf{x})=\mathbf{f}(\mathbf{x})$, whereas the outward unit normal vector changes sign: $\mathbf{n}(-\mathbf{x})=-\mathbf{n}(\mathbf{x})$. Corresponding arc length elements are equal. Thus the two contributions to the flux cancel, proving without evaluating any boundary integral thatThe same cancellation appears in the divergence, which is an odd function of $x$ over a region symmetric under $x\mapsto -x$. To justify using the planar divergence theorem despite the lack of differentiability at the origin, remove a disk of radius $\epsilon <1$. The vector field is continuously differentiable on the remaining region, its divergence has zero double integral by this symmetry, and the magnitude of the inner flux is at most $2\pi {\epsilon }^2$, since $\Vert \mathbf{f}\Vert \le \epsilon$ there. Letting $\epsilon \to 0$ recovers the result. This is flux around a removable point singularity.