416 Chapter^7
The following additional types of complex integrals are defined by the
corresponding right-hand sides:
J f(z)ds = j f(z)ldzl = 1p f(z(t))lz'(t)ldt (7.5-1)
j f(z)dz = 1: f(z(t))z'(t)dt (7.5-2)
'Y
J f(;: dx = 1: f(z(t))x'(t) d~. (7.5-3)
'Y c··:
J f(z) dy = 1: f(z(t))y'(t) ~t (7.5-4)
'Y
The definitions ab'ove can be extended to piecewise differentiable arcs as
in Section' 7.4.
7 .6 COMPLEX INTEGRALS ALONG A RECTIFIABLE
ARC. THE INTEGRAL AS THE LIMIT OF A SUM
The integrals defined in Sections 7.3, 7.4, and 7.5 suffice for most practical
purposes. However, those definitions can be easily generalized to integrals
along any rectifiable arc in the plane.
Let 'Y: z = z(t) = x(t) + iy(t), a :::; t :::; /3, be an arc defined by the
continuous function z = z(t) over [a,/3]; and let P = {t 0 ,t 1 ,t 2 , ... ,tn},
wl:;tere
ll' = to < ti < t2 < · · · < tn = /3,
be any partition of the interval [a,/3]. The finite sum
n
Sp= L lz(tk) - z(tk-1)1
k=l
represents the length of a polygonal line inscribed in the graph of 'Y· The arc
'Y is said to be rectifiable, or to have finite length, if the set of the nonnegative
real numbers Sp is bounded from above for all possible partitions, and the
length of ';', denoted L(7), is defined by
L('Y) =sup Sp (7.6-1)
p