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The curved surface of a circular cylinder, excluding any flat end caps. A parametrization of a radius-$a$ cylindrical surface is $\mathbf{R}(\theta ,z)=(a\cos \theta ,a\sin \theta ,z)$, with surface area element $ad\theta dz$.

Write the plane as $z=6-3x-2y$. Its projection on the $xy$ plane is the triangle $0\le x\le 2$, $0\le y\le 3-3x/2$. The scalar surface area element isThus the weighted surface integral isA geometric check uses the triangular face's area $3\sqrt{14}$ and mean $y$ coordinate $(0+3+0)/3=1$. Multiplying them gives the same result, because $y$ is an affine function on this planar triangle. Its edges have zero surface measure, so strict or non-strict octant inequalities do not change the integral.

On the unit upper hemisphere, use spherical coordinates with $0\le \theta \le \pi /2$ and $0\le \varphi <2\pi$. The surface mass density is $\sigma =z=\cos \theta$, while the surface area element is $dS=\sin \theta d\theta d\varphi$. Thus the total mass isThe answer is in the mass units implicit in the specified unit radius and density law. A useful geometric check is that $zdS$ on the unit hemisphere equals the area element of its vertical projection onto the horizontal unit disc, whose area is $\pi$.

This is a scalar surface integral, not an oriented flux. Split the whole closed surface into the bottom disc, curved side and tilted top; shared edge curves have zero surface area.

On the bottom, $z=0$ and the integrand is $y$. Its integral over the symmetric disc $x^2+y^2\le 3$ vanishes by oddness:On the top, $z=4-y$, so $y+z=4$. The graph has $z_x=0$, $z_y=-1$, giving $dS=\sqrt{1+z_x^2+z_y^2}dxdy=\sqrt{2}dxdy$. HenceFor the side, let $R=\sqrt{3}$ and parametrize by $(R\cos \varphi ,R\sin \varphi ,z)$, with $0\le z\le 4-R\sin \varphi$. The surface area element is $Rdzd\varphi$. ThusAdding all three pieces givesThe tilted top remains above the bottom everywhere because $4-y\ge 4-\sqrt{3}>0$. The calculation is an instance of a scalar surface integral over a cylinder with one tilted cap; reversing a surface orientation would not change any of its terms.

For an oriented piecewise smooth surface $S$ with boundary $\partial S$, and a vector field $F$ continuously differentiable on a neighborhood of $S$, Stokes theorem statesHere $n$ is the chosen unit normal vector, $dS$ is the unsigned surface area element, and $dr$ is the tangent displacement along the boundary. The right-hand rule pairs the boundary orientation with $n$. If there are several boundary components, the line integral includes all of them with their induced orientations.

A simply connected surface is connected and every closed loop on it can be continuously contracted to a point while remaining on the surface. A disc is an example. An annulus is not simply connected: a loop winding once around its hole cannot contract within it.

Stokes' theorem is valid for both types of surface, under the smoothness and orientation hypotheses above. Simple connectivity is not a requirement of the theorem. For a concrete annular example, take $F=(-y/2,x/2,0)$ and $a\le r\le R$ in the horizontal plane. Its curl is $(0,0,1)$, so the left side is $\pi (R^2-a^2)$. The right side is the counterclockwise outer-circle integral $\pi R^2$ minus the counterclockwise inner-circle integral $\pi a^2$, giving exactly the same answer. Omitting the inner boundary would be an incorrect application of the theorem.

For an oriented piecewise smooth surface $S$, a continuously differentiable vector field $F$ on a neighborhood of it, and its compatibly oriented boundary $C=\partial S$, Stokes theorem statesHere $n$ is the chosen unit normal vector, $dS$ is the unsigned surface area element, and $dr$ is the tangent displacement along $C$. The right-hand rule relates the boundary direction to $n$.

The supplied field has curl $\nabla \times F=(2z,2x,2y)$. Parametrize the plane by $r(x,y)=(x,y,1-x-y)$ over the triangle $D=\{x,y\ge 0:x+y\le 1\}$. Its upward oriented surface area element is $(1,1,1)dxdy$, givingFor the boundary line integral, take the positively oriented vertices $A=(1,0,0)$, $B=(0,1,0)$, $C=(0,0,1)$. Their projections run counterclockwise in the horizontal plane. With $0\le t\le 1$, the three edges areOn each edge, direct substitution gives $F(r(t))\cdot r^{\prime }(t)=t^2+2t-1$. HenceThe two independent computations agree, including the orientation sign.

Assume $a>0$ and choose the outward orientation. On the sphere, $\mathbf{n}=(x,y,z)/a$, so $\mathbf{F}\cdot \mathbf{n}=(x^2+y^2+2z^2)/a=(a^2+z^2)/a$. In spherical coordinates, $z=a\cos \theta$ and $dS=a^2\sin \theta d\theta d\varphi$. The direct surface integral isIndependently, $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{F}=1+1+2=4$. Its volume integral over the ball isThe two calculations agree exactly with the divergence theorem. The expression requested is a scalar flux of a vector field, namely the dot product with the directed surface area element.

Let $S$ be a compact piecewise smooth oriented surface, $\mathbf{n}$ its chosen unit normal vector, and $\partial S$ its entire oriented boundary. Let $\mathbf{A}$ be a continuously differentiable vector field on a neighborhood of $S$. Stokes theorem statesHere $\nabla \times \mathbf{A}$ is the curl, $dS$ is the surface area element, and $d\mathbf{r}$ is the directed line integral element. The boundary follows the right-hand rule relative to $\mathbf{n}$; equivalently the surface lies to the left when walking along its boundary with one's head toward $\mathbf{n}$.

The topological requirement is orientability, together with the regularity and boundary assumptions above. Simple connectivity is unnecessary. An annulus or cylindrical side is allowed, provided every boundary component is included with its induced direction. For a concrete counterexample to a disk-only restriction, take the planar annulus $1\le x^2+y^2\le 4$ and $\mathbf{A}=(-y/2,x/2,0)$. The curl is ${\mathbf{e}}_z$, the surface integral is $3\pi$, and the outer counterclockwise and inner clockwise line integrals sum to $4\pi -\pi =3\pi$.

For $S$ in the $xy$ plane with upward normal vector and $\mathbf{A}=(P,Q,0)$, its curl has vertical component $Q_x-P_y$. Thus Stokes theorem becomes Green's theorem:The outer boundary is counterclockwise and any inner boundaries are clockwise.

For the scalar surface integral over an obliquely cut cylinder, split the scalar surface integral into the curved cylinder and its two planar caps. Write $s=z-x$, so the solid has $x^2+y^2\le 4$ and $-3\le s\le 2$. On the curved cylinder, use the parametrizationThe surface area element follows fromConsequently the curved contribution isOn either cap $z=x+s$, the surface area element is $\sqrt{1+z_x^2+z_y^2}dxdy=\sqrt{2}dxdy$ over a radius-two disk. The lower cap has $x-z=3$ and the upper cap has $x-z=-2$. Thusand the complete scalar surface integral isThe surface area element is unsigned: opposite outward normals on the caps do not introduce extra minus signs.

For a continuously differentiable vector field $\mathbf{F}$ on a neighborhood of an oriented, piecewise smooth surface $S$, Stokes theorem statesHere $\partial S$ is the boundary curve, $d\mathbf{r}$ is its directed tangent element, $\hat{\mathbf{n}}$ is the chosen unit normal vector, $dS$ is the surface area element, and $\nabla \times \mathbf{F}$ is the curl. The right-hand rule relates the boundary direction to $\hat{\mathbf{n}}$. Thus circulation around the edge equals the flux of curl through the spanning surface. Reversing both orientations changes both signs. One can replace a difficult line integral by an easier surface integral, or replace one spanning surface by another within the region of regularity.

For a bounded volume $V$ with piecewise smooth closed boundary and a continuously differentiable vector field on a neighborhood of its closure, the divergence theorem statesHere ${\hat{\mathbf{n}}}_{\mathrm{out}}$ points out of $V$, including into any holes, $dV$ is the volume element, and $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{F}$ is the divergence. It equates total outward flux to integrated source strength. It converts a closed surface integral into a volume integral, and explains why internal fluxes cancel in a subdivided region. Singularities cannot be included without checking the hypotheses.

For a conservative force, the work around every closed path is zero. Stokes theorem gives zero flux of curl through every sufficiently small patch. Dividing by its area and shrinking the patch shows that every component of the continuous curl vanishes:Here $U$ is potential energy; conversely, zero curl implies a conservative vector field on a simply connected domain. The divergence theorem then gives the compatible relation ${\iint }_{\partial V}\mathbf{F}\cdot \hat{\mathbf{n}}dS=-{\iiint }_V{\nabla }^{2}UdV$. There is no general zero-divergence condition on a conservative force: $\mathbf{F}=-\mathbf{r}=-\nabla (r^2/2)$ is a concrete counterexample, with $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{F}=-3$.

Use the spherical coordinates parametrizationThen ${\mathbf{R}}_{\varphi }\times {\mathbf{R}}_{\theta }=\sin \varphi \mathbf{R}$, so the outward unit normal vector is $\mathbf{n}=\mathbf{R}=\sin \varphi {\mathbf{e}}_r+\cos \varphi {\mathbf{e}}_z$ and the surface area element is $\sin \varphi d\varphi d\theta$. Since $\sin \varphi >0$ throughout this band, the vector field is smooth near it. The surface integral of the curl isFor the induced boundary orientation, the lower circle $\varphi =\beta$ is traversed with increasing $\theta$, and the upper circle $\varphi =\alpha$ with decreasing $\theta$. One way to check the signs is that the outward conormal is ${\mathbf{e}}_{\varphi }$ at the lower circle and $-{\mathbf{e}}_{\varphi }$ at the upper circle; the positive unit tangent vector is $\mathbf{n}\times \text{conormal}$.

Along a circle of fixed $\varphi$, $d\mathbf{r}=\sin \varphi {\mathbf{e}}_{\theta }d\theta$. Therefore the circulation iswhich equals the boxed surface integral and verifies Stokes theorem with the required orientation.

Parametrize the finite cylindrical surface patch byThe surface area element is $|{\mathbf{R}}_t\times {\mathbf{R}}_z|dtdz=dtdz$. The seam $t=\pm \pi$ has zero surface area, so it causes no overcounting. ThereforeUnrolling the unit circular cylinder preserves surface area, which explains the equality with the area under the hyperbolic cosine in the figure. The patch consists of the cylindrical surface alone; no flat base is included.

For the surface area of a tricylinder, permutation symmetry shows that each of the three cylindrical surfaces contributes the same surface area to the boundary. On the face $x^2+y^2=1$, put $x=\cos \theta$, $y=\sin \theta$. The remaining two inequalities requireso $|z|\le \min (|\sin \theta |,|\cos \theta |)$. The surface area element on this unit circular cylinder is $d\theta dz$. There are eight congruent angular sectors, with the minimum equal to $\sin \theta$ for $0\le \theta \le \pi /4$. Thus the area of this face isEvery boundary point lies on at least one of these three cylindrical surfaces; their pairwise intersections are curves of zero surface area. Adding the three faces therefore gives

Use cylindrical coordinates. The real square root restricts the projection to $0\le r\le 1$, and there $r-1\le 0\le \sqrt{1-r^2}$. Since $\nabla x={\mathbf{e}}_x$, the volume integral isFor an independent boundary calculation, split $\partial V$ into an upper hemisphere $S_{+}$ and a lower right circular conical surface $S_{-}$. They meet in the circle $r=1,z=0$ and there is no additional planar face.

On $S_{+}$, use the parametrizationThe outward unit normal vector is $\mathbf{R}$, and the surface area element is $\sin \alpha d\alpha d\theta$. The $y$ and $z$ components of ${\iint }_{S_{+}}x\mathbf{n}dS$ vanish by the angular integrals of $\sin \theta \cos \theta$ and $\cos \theta$. The $x$ component isOn $S_{-}$, the parametrization $(r\cos \theta ,r\sin \theta ,r-1)$ has outward vector area elementIts negative vertical component points out below the solid. Multiplying by $x=r\cos \theta$ and using the same angular symmetry in integration givesTherefore the independently evaluated surface integral isin agreement with the volume integral. The isolated apex of the cone does not contribute to the surface integral.

For the surface, a source element has mass $dm=\sigma d{S}^{\prime }$. Superposing its Newtonian gravitational potential gives the surface integralHere $d{S}^{\prime }$ is the source surface area element, ${\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }$ the source position vector, and $G$ the gravitational constant. The same zero-at-infinity convention applies.

Use source polar coordinates $x^{\prime }=s\cos \theta$, $y^{\prime }=s\sin \theta$ on the semicircular disk, with $0\le s\le a$ and $0\le \theta \le \pi$. Its surface area element is $sdsd\theta$, and the separation from $(0,0,h)$ is $\sqrt{s^2+h^2}$. ThusThis Newtonian gravitational potential is half that of the full disk because the separation is independent of the polar angle. At large $h$ it approaches $-G(\pi a^2\sigma /2)/h$, with the correct total mass.

The partial derivatives of the parametrization areTheir cross product isTaking its euclidean norm gives the surface area elementThe two poles and duplicated seam have zero surface area, so integrating over the stated parameter domain counts the surface area once. With the change of variables $u=\cos \theta$ and the supplied definite integral,Here $-\ln (\sqrt{2}-1)=\ln (\sqrt{2}+1)$ because $(\sqrt{2}-1)(\sqrt{2}+1)=1$.

An infinitesimal parameter rectangle becomes a parallelogram with edges ${\mathbf{r}}_{s}ds$ and ${\mathbf{r}}_{t}dt$. Its area is the Euclidean norm of their cross product, giving the surface area elementThus, for a regular parametrization covering the surface once except possibly on sets of area zero,For several patches, add their surface integrals while avoiding overlap; repeated coverage would otherwise count area with multiplicity.

The partial derivatives of this parametrized surface areTheir cross product isThe mixed terms cancel in its squared Euclidean norm:Since $s>0$, the surface area element is $s(t^2+2)dsdt$. There is no repeated coverage: $z=2s$ recovers $s$, and $\sqrt{x^2+y^2}=st$ then recovers $t$. Therefore the surface area is

A parametrization of the cylindrical patch isThe last range uses the planes $x=0$ and $x=y$. The surface area element is $|{\mathbf{r}}_x\times {\mathbf{r}}_{\theta }|dxd\theta =2dxd\theta$. HenceIncluding or excluding the boundary curves does not change the surface area.