Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2005 / Paper 2 / 1 / a / i

A differentiable gradient field must have equal mixed derivatives. Here $\partial F_y/\partial z=3z^2$ but $\partial F_z/\partial y=-x$, which are not identically equal on any open region. Equivalently,Thus no scalar potential exists for this field on an open region. Vanishing of the curl on a special lower-dimensional set would not supply a three-dimensional potential.