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LateToTheParty
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O.K. , this question is inspired by a physics class I'm taking where we're working out the expectation values of wave functions, but I think the question really belongs in the math section. Thank you in advance for any help. Here goes nothing...
We have a function ψ(x,y,z) = x e[itex]\sqrt{}x2 + y2+ z2[/itex]
Now I want to integrate this over all space. So I switch to spherical polar include the Jacobian and I end up with a separable integral of sinθ cubed form 0 to pi which is zero. No problem. But here's where the question pops up. I go to calculate the same function except this time with a z in front of the exponential, and I get a different answer, because I no longer get the sin^3 when I switch to spherical. It just seems really odd to me. I apologize if my formatting leaves something to be desired I'm new to the site, and any help would be greatly appreciated. Any insight on why a arbitrary change would affect the behavior of the integral?
We have a function ψ(x,y,z) = x e[itex]\sqrt{}x2 + y2+ z2[/itex]
Now I want to integrate this over all space. So I switch to spherical polar include the Jacobian and I end up with a separable integral of sinθ cubed form 0 to pi which is zero. No problem. But here's where the question pops up. I go to calculate the same function except this time with a z in front of the exponential, and I get a different answer, because I no longer get the sin^3 when I switch to spherical. It just seems really odd to me. I apologize if my formatting leaves something to be desired I'm new to the site, and any help would be greatly appreciated. Any insight on why a arbitrary change would affect the behavior of the integral?