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An illustration of Stokes' theorem, with surface Σ, its boundary ∂Σ and the normal vector n.The direction of positive circulation of the bounding contour ∂Σ, and the direction n of positive flux through the surface Σ, are related by a right-hand-rule (i.e., the right hand the fingers circulate along ∂Σ and the thumb is directed along n).
In mathematics and physics, the right-hand rule is a convention and a mnemonic, utilized to define the orientation of axes in three-dimensional space and to determine the direction of the cross product of two vectors, as well as to establish the direction of the force on a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field.
By Stokes' theorem, the flux of curl or vorticity vectors through a surface S is equal to the circulation around its perimeter, [4] = = = Here, the closed integration path ∂S is the boundary or perimeter of an open surface S , whose infinitesimal element normal d S = n dS is oriented according to the right-hand rule .
In particular, the fundamental theorem of calculus is the special case where the manifold is a line segment, Green’s theorem and Stokes' theorem are the cases of a surface in or , and the divergence theorem is the case of a volume in . [2] Hence, the theorem is sometimes referred to as the fundamental theorem of multivariate calculus.
The right hand grip rule can also be used to determine the signs. Second, there are infinitely many possible surfaces S that have the curve C as their border. (Imagine a soap film on a wire loop, which can be deformed by blowing on the film).
A tensor form of a vector integral theorem may be obtained by replacing the vector (or one of them) by a tensor, provided that the vector is first made to appear only as the right-most vector of each integrand. For example, Stokes' theorem becomes
The reason for defining the vector derivative and integral as above is that they allow a strong generalization of Stokes' theorem. Let L ( A ; x ) {\displaystyle {\mathsf {L}}(A;x)} be a multivector-valued function of r {\displaystyle r} -grade input A {\displaystyle A} and general position x {\displaystyle x} , linear in its first argument.
However, there are situations where it is desirable to give different orientations to different points. For example, consider the fundamental theorem of calculus as an instance of Stokes' theorem. A closed interval [a, b] is a one-dimensional manifold with boundary, and its boundary is the set {a, b}.