Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford / 2021 / Prelims / Mathematics V resit / Question 2 / a

One sufficient version of the divergence theorem is the following. Let $R$ be a bounded region in ${\mathbb{R}}^3$ with a closed, piecewise smooth surface as its boundary, and let $\mathbf{F}$ be a continuously differentiable function with values in ${\mathbb{R}}^3$ on an open neighbourhood of the closure of $R$. With $\mathbf{n}$ the outward unit normal vector,The boundary surface integral is the total outward flux integral. If the boundary has several components, each has the outward orientation relative to the material of $R$; inner components therefore point into the holes. Edges and isolated vertices may be omitted when assigning the unit normal vector, since they have zero surface area.

For each of the three constant Cartesian unit vectors ${\mathbf{e}}_j$, apply the divergence theorem to the vector field $\varphi {\mathbf{e}}_j$. Its divergence is ${\partial }_j\varphi$, soThese are precisely the three components ofThus the volume integral of the gradient is the boundary surface integral weighted by the vector surface element $d\mathbf{S}=\mathbf{n}dS$. The regularity needed here is that $\varphi$ be continuously differentiable on a neighbourhood of the closure of $R$.