Are line integral function of a function differentiable

calculusfunctional-analysismultivariable-calculusreal-analysisvector analysis

I was reading Tom Apostol calculus volume 2 and came across theorem 10.4 FIRST FUNDAMENTAL THEOREM FOR LINE INTEGRALS (page 338)

The theorem roughly stated: $\vec f$ be a vector field that is continuous on an open connected set S in $R^n$ and assume that the line integral of $\vec f$ is independent of path in S . $\vec a$ be a fixed point of S and define a scalar field $\phi$ on S by the equation $$\phi(\vec x)=\int_{\vec a}^\vec x\vec f.d\vec \alpha$$
Where $\vec\alpha$ is any piecewise smooth path in S joining $\vec a $ and $\vec x $.Then the gradient of $\phi$ exists and is equal to $\vec f $.

My question is in the proof it was proved that the $D_t \phi(\vec x)=f_t$
for all k in {1,2,3,4,5,….,n}, Whereas the theorem states gradient should exist that is the function $\phi(\vec x)$ should be differentiable, if so how to PROVE IT?

Best Answer

If the first partial derivatives exist and are equal to $f_k$, and each $f_k$ is continuous (by assumption), then $\phi$ is of class $C^1$, hence (by a well-known basic theorem) differentiable.

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