Line Integral and Vector Field Problem

zm500
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Homework Statement


Find the work done by the force field F(x,y) = x sin(y)i + yj on a particle that moves along on the parabola y = x^2 from (-1,1) to (2,4).

Homework Equations


Work = line integral of the dot product of Field vector and change in the path
The path is parabola equation.

The Attempt at a Solution


I tried to integrate with respect to x and y instead of t, because I don't know how to find the path vector r(t).
So, i got two integrals for X-direction and y - direction.
Then, I can just use the Pythagorean theorem to find the total work.

Srry, I didn't write any mathematical equations.
 
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The "path vector" is always a position vector:
\vec{r}(x)= x\vec{i}+ y\vec{j}= x\vec{i}+ x^2\vec{j}
so that
d\vec{r}= (\vec{i}+ 2x\vec{j})dx

If the force field is not conservative, the work done to move along two legs of a right triangle might have nothing to do with the work required to move along the hypotenuse. I don't believe that using the "Pythagorean Theorem" will work here.
 
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HallsofIvy said:
The "path vector" is always a position vector:
\vec{r}(x)= x\vec{i}+ y\vec{j}= x\vec{i}+ x^2\vec{j}
so that
d\vec{r}= (\vec{i}+ 2x\vec{j})dx

If the force field is not conservative, the work done to move along two legs of a right triangle might have nothing to do with the work required to move along the hypotenuse. I don't believe that using the "Pythagorean Theorem" will work here.

Thanks!
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...

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