Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / Paper 1 / Section A / 3 / Solution

In the position representation in quantum mechanics, $\hat{\mathbf{p}}=-i\hslash \nabla$. Therefore the orbital angular momentum operator givesAt fixed $r,\theta$, the spherical coordinates obey ${\partial }_{\varphi }x=-y$, ${\partial }_{\varphi }y=x$, and ${\partial }_{\varphi }z=0$. The chain rule consequently gives ${\partial }_{\varphi }=-y{\partial }_x+x{\partial }_y$, henceThe derivative holds the other two spherical coordinates fixed; it is not a derivative along an arbitrary spatial curve.