Calculations of areas in the plane using Green's theorem

A very powerful tool in integral calculus is Green's theorem. Let's consider a vector field F(x,y)=(P(x,y),Q(x,y)), C being a closed curve in the plane and S the interior surface delimited by the curve.

Then: CF dr=S(QxPy) dx dy

The application in the calculation of areas is the following one. We will think such a field being QxPy=1.Then the term on the right is only the area of the enclosure S. Therefore, we will be able to calculate it by doing one line integral on the border of the enclosure.

There are many fields that satisfy the property QxPy=1, but the most used are:

  • F(x,y)=(0,x)
  • F(x,y)=(y,0)
  • F(x,y)=(y,x)

Example

For example, we are going to calculate the area delimited by the parametric curve: α(θ)=(3sin(2θ)cos(θ),3sin(2θ)sin(θ))

with θ[0,π2].

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Now we take the vector field F(x,y)=(0,x) and integrate the field along the curve α(θ). Let's calculate: α(θ)=(6cos(2θ)cos(θ)3sin(2θ)sin(θ),6cos(2θ)sin(θ)3sin(2θ)cos(θ))

and we have:

Area=D1 dx dy=CF dr=0π2F(α(t))α(t) dt=0π2(0,3sin(2t)sin(t))(6cos(2t)cos(t)3sin(2t)sin(t),6cos(2t)sin(t)3sin(2t)cos(t)) dt=0π23sin(2t)cos(t)(6cos(2t)sin(t)3sin(2t)cos(t)) dt=180π2cos(t)cos(2t)sin(t)sin(2t) dt+90π2sin2(2t)cos2(2t) dt=90π2sin2(2t)cos(2t) dt+90π2sin2(2t)(1+cos2(2t)2) dt=92[sin3(2t)3)]0π2+920π21cos(4t)2 dt+920π2sin2(2t)cos(2t) dt=98π