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Mathematical Expression Editor
We integrate over regions in spherical coordinates.
Another way to generalize polar coordinates to three dimensions is with spherical
coordinates.
An ordered triple consisting of a radius, an angle, and a height can be graphed as
meaning:
Coordinates of this type are called spherical coordinates.
Consider the point in spherical coordinates. What is this point when expressed in
-coordinates?
Triple integrals in spherical coordinates
If you want to evaluate this integral you have to change to a region defined in
-coordinates, and change to some combination of leaving you with some iterated
integral: Now consider representing a region in spherical coordinates and
let’s express in terms of , , and . To do this, consider the diagram below:
Here we see
Recalling that the determinate of a matrix gives the volume of a
parallelepiped, we could also deduce the correct form for by setting
and computing:
We may now state at theorem:
Fubini Let be continuous on the region Then:
Write down a triple integral in spherical coordinates that will compute the volume of
a sphere of radius .