Surface Integrals
Surface integrals extend integration to two-dimensional surfaces in three-dimensional space, computing quantities such as total flux of a vector field through a surface or the mass of a thin shell.
Parametric Surfaces
A parametric surface is a continuous map from a region to : The vectors and are tangent to the surface, and the surface element is
Scalar Surface Integrals
The scalar surface integral of over the surface parametrized by is For the graph , this becomes .
Parametrize the sphere by :
Flux Integrals
The flux of a vector field through an oriented surface is The sign depends on the choice of orientation (which side of is "outward").
The flux of (upward flow) through the portion of the plane over the unit disk :
A surface is orientable if it has a consistent choice of unit normal . The Mobius strip is the standard example of a non-orientable surface. Flux integrals require orientability; the divergence theorem and Stokes' theorem apply only to orientable surfaces.