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In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that operates on a vector field, producing a scalar field giving the quantity of the vector field's source at each point. More technically, the divergence represents the volume density of the outward flux of a vector field from an infinitesimal volume around a given point.
The divergence theorem can be used to calculate a flux through a closed surface that fully encloses a volume, like any of the surfaces on the left. It can not directly be used to calculate the flux through surfaces with boundaries, like those on the right. (Surfaces are blue, boundaries are red.)
As the name implies, the divergence is a (local) measure of the degree to which vectors in the field diverge. The divergence of a tensor field of non-zero order k is written as =, a contraction of a tensor field of order k − 1. Specifically, the divergence of a vector is a scalar.
This article uses the standard notation ISO 80000-2, which supersedes ISO 31-11, for spherical coordinates (other sources may reverse the definitions of θ and φ): . The polar angle is denoted by [,]: it is the angle between the z-axis and the radial vector connecting the origin to the point in question.
The term "divergence" is in contrast to a distance (metric), since the symmetrized divergence does not satisfy the triangle inequality. [10] Numerous references to earlier uses of the symmetrized divergence and to other statistical distances are given in Kullback (1959, pp. 6–7, §1.3 Divergence).
Beam divergence usually refers to a beam of circular cross section, but not necessarily so. A beam may, for example, have an elliptical cross section, in which case the orientation of the beam divergence must be specified, for example with respect to the major or minor axis of the elliptical cross section.
By the divergence theorem, Gauss's law can alternatively be written in the differential form: = where ∇ · E is the divergence of the electric field, ε 0 is the vacuum permittivity and ρ is the total volume charge density (charge per unit volume).
In an analogous way, one can obtain finite difference approximations to higher order derivatives and differential operators. For example, by using the above central difference formula for f ′(x + h / 2 ) and f ′(x − h / 2 ) and applying a central difference formula for the derivative of f ′ at x, we obtain the central difference approximation of the second derivative of f: