[Math] Surface integral of a plane

integrationmultivariable-calculus

I have this function

$$ f(x,y,z) = x + y $$

and I want to find

$$ \iint f(x,y,z) dS $$

Where S is the first octant part of the plane

$$ x + y + z =1 $$

Now, I know the method, and have paramatrized like this

$$
z = 1 – x – y,\, x = x,\, y = y.
$$
However, I thought the bounds of integration for x and y were between 0 and 1, but doing this gives me an answer of $3^{0.5}$, when the answer is $(3^{1/2})/3$, implying that the bounds that my textbook is using are different.

What are they?

Best Answer

Here is the solution,

$$ \iint f(x,y,z) dS=\int_{0}^{1}\int_{0}^{1-x} (x+y) \sqrt{1+(\frac{dz}{dx})^{2}+(\frac{dz}{dy})^2}dy\,dx$$

$$ = \sqrt{3} \int_{0}^{1}\int_{0}^{1-x} (x+y)dydx= \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}. $$

Note that, S is the first octant part of the plane, then you will have the region in xy-plane bounded by the $x$-axis, $y$-axis and the $y=1-x$, $x\geq 0, y\geq 0.$