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Homework Statement
I don't have great expectation that this will get a reply but here goes, because this is bugging me.
I will assume that you are familiar with the notation used by Spivak.
In the last section of chapter 4, he shows how to integrate a k-form on R^m over a singular k-cube in R^m, namely,
[tex]\int_c \omega = \int_{[0,1]^k}c^{*}\omega[/tex]
He then goes on to define the integral of a k-form over a k-chain [itex]c=\sum a_i c_i[/itex] in R^m by
[tex]\int_c \omega = \sum a_i\int_{c_i} \omega=\sum a_i\int_{[0,1]^k}c_{i}^{*}\omega[/tex]
But actually, a k-chain in R^m is a k-cube in R^m, so in principle, the integral of a k-chain is already defined, namely by
[tex]\int_c \omega =\int_{[0,1]^k}(\sum a_i c_i)^{*}\omega[/tex]
and this will be consistent with the above definition if [itex](\sum a_i c_i)^{*}=\sum a_ic_i^{*}[/itex]. But is this so? Taking the case where w is a 1-form for simplicity,
[tex](\sum a_i c_i)^{*}\omega (p)(v_p)=\omega (\sum a_i c_i(p))((\sum a_i c_i)_{*}(v_p))=\omega (\sum a_i c_i(p))(\sum a_i (Dc_i(p)(v))_{c(p)})=\sum a_i \omega (\sum a_i c_i(p))((Dc_i(p)(v))_{c(p)})[/tex]
On the other hand, supposing we define "+" and multiplication by a scalar in the natural way on the f* operators,
[tex](\sum a_ic_i^{*})\omega(p)(v_p)=\sum a_ic_i^{*}\omega(p)(v_p) = \sum a_i \omega(c_i(p))(c_{i*}(v_p))=\sum a_i \omega(c_i(p))(Dc_{i}(v))_{c_i(p)})[/tex]
They are not at all the same.