Thread: Conservative field?

Hi.

Just checked my answer on a question from my workbook on line integrals. Almost nailed it but not quite.

Question is this.

Verify that the following vectorfield is conservative and determine it´s "potential function" (Don´t know if it´s the correct translation but maybe you´ll get it from my attempt)



I get an extra 2 in the answer and I don´t know why. This is extremely irritating as I get stuck with small problems. Takes a lot of time which I don´t have. So what did i miss?

-WS

Hi

You are getting

Now on one hand

on the other hand

therefore which means that and finally

Yes of course. Thank you! I tried to follow the method from an example in my workbook mechanically without really understanding the procedure. I searched the web and found it easier to understand this with another notation for partial derivatives. But your explanation makes even more sense.

-WS