The Divergence Theorem in its pure form applies to Vector Fields. Flowing water can be considered a vector field because at each point the water has a position and a velocity vector. Faster moving water is represented by a larger vector in our field. The divergence of a vector field is a measurement of the expansion or contraction of the field; if more water is being introduced then the divergence is positive. Analytically divergence of a field is

,

where is the component of in the direction. Intuitively, if F has a large positive rate of change in the x direction, the partial derivative with respect to x in this direction will be large, increasing total divergence. The divergence theorem requires that we sum divergence over an entire volume. If this sum is positive, then the field must indicate some movement out of the volume through its boundary, while if this sum is negative, the field must indicate some movement into the volume through its boundary. We use the notion of flux, the flow through a surface, to quantify this movement through the boundary, which itself is a surface.

The divergence theorem is formally stated as:

The left side of this equation is the sum of the divergence over the entire volume, and the right side of this equation is the sum of the field perpendicular to the volume's boundary at the boundary, which is the flux through the boundary.