Green's Theorem
Green's theorem is a vector identity which is equivalent to the curl theorem in the plane. Over a region
in the plane with
boundary
, Green's theorem states
|
(1)
|
where the left side is a line integral and the right side is a surface integral. This can also be written compactly in vector form as
|
(2)
|
If the region
is on the left when traveling around
, then area of
can be computed using the elegant formula
|
(3)
|
giving a surprising connection between the area of a region and the line integral around its boundary. For a plane curve specified parametrically as
for
,
equation (3) becomes
|
(4)
|
which gives the signed area enclosed by the curve.
The symmetric for above corresponds to Green's theorem with
and
, leading to
|
(5)
| |||
|
(6)
| |||
|
(7)
| |||
|
(8)
| |||
|
(9)
|
However, we are also free to choose other values of
and
, including
and
, giving
the "simpler" form
|
(10)
|
and
and
, giving
|
(11)
|
A similar procedure can be applied to compute the moment about the
-axis using
and
as
|
(12)
|
and about the
-axis using
and
as
|
(13)
|
where the geometric centroid
is
given by
and
.
Finally, the area moments of inertia can be computed using
and
as
|
(14)
|
using
and
as
|
(15)
|
and using
and
as
|
(16)
|
green's theorem




