Brian Streit

Math 2451

HW 2 Solutions

1. We recall from problem 8 on HW1 that our parallelogram is bound by the

lines 3x 2y = 13; 2x + 3y = 13; 3x 2y = 13 and 2x + 3y = 26. We see
that the region bound by this parallelogram is de…ned by
2 13 3 13
x y x+ when 5 x 1
3 3 2 2
and
3 13 2 26
x y x+ when 1 x 7:
2 2 3 3

y
8

-6 -4 -2 2 4 6 8
x
-2

-4

-6

2. The solid unit ball in R3 is

B 3 (1) = f(x; y; z) 2 R3 : x2 + y 2 + z 2 1g:

In spherical coordinates this can be represented by the inequality 0

1. Since we want the subset of B 3 in the …rst octant, our desired system of
inequalities is
0 1; 0 ' ;0 :
2 2

1
 3. (a) Let f : R2 ! R be de…ned by setting

0 if (x; y) = (0; 0)
f (x; y) = xy :
x2 +y 2 if (x; y) 6= (0; 0)

so that
@f y 3 x2 y @f x3 y 2 x
(x; y) = 2 and (x; y) = 2 for (x; y) 6= (0; 0):
@x (x2 + y 2 ) @y (x2 + y 2 )

(b) To …nd @f
@x (0; 0) and
@f
@y (0; 0) we must use the limit de…nition of the partial
derivative. Now,
@f f ((0; 0) + h(1; 0)) f (0; 0) f (h; 0) f (0; 0)
(0; 0) = lim = lim
@x h!0 h h!0 h

(h)(0)
h2 +02 0
= lim = lim = 0;
h!0 h h!0 h3

and similarly
@f f (0; h) f (0; 0) 0
(0; 0) = lim = lim 3 = 0;
@y h!0 h h!0 h

so h i
@f @f
M= @x (0; 0) @y (0; 0) = 0 0 :

(c) We compute

h
f ((0; 0) + (h; h)) f (0; 0) M h2
h 2h2 0 0
lim = lim p
(h;h)!(0;0) k(h; h)k h!0 2h2
1
= lim p = 1:
h!0 2 2 jhj
Since this limit does not equal zero, we conclude that f is not di¤erentiable at
(0; 0):
(d) To see that f is not di¤erentiable at (0; 0) we could have also noticed that
f is not continuous at (0; 0) since continuity is a necessary (but not su¢ cient)
condition for di¤erentiability. Indeed, if we approach (0; 0) along the path x = y
then we get
x2 1
lim f (x; x) = lim 2 = ;
x!0 x!0 2x 2
however, along the path y = 0 we get
0
lim f (x; 0) = lim = 0:
x!0 x!0 x2

Since the limit is not path-independent, it does not exist.

2
 @f
4. (a) We have @x (0; 0) = 0 since
@f 0jtj 0
(0; 0) = lim =0
@x t!0 t
@f
Similarly, @y (0; 0) = 0. Now let M = 0 0 and h = (h1 ; h2 ) so that

kf (0 + h) f (0) M (h)k jh1 h2 j

lim = :
h!0 khk khk
But q q
khk = h21 + h22 h21 = jh1 j
so
jh1 h2 j jh1 j jh2 j jh1 j jh2 j
= = jh2 j ! 0 as h ! 0
khk khk jh1 j
implies
kf (0 + h)
f (0) M (h)k
lim = 0:
h!0 khk
Therefore f is di¤erentiable at a = 0.
(b) We observe that @f@x (0; a2 ) is unde…ned for a2 6= 0. Indeed

@f jtj ja2 j
(0; a2 ) = lim
@x t!0 t
does not exist since
jtj ja2 j jtj ja2 j
lim = ja2 j ; lim = ja2 j
t!0+ t t!0 t
and ja2 j =
6 ja2 j :

z
y x

3
 5. Let mi be the vector equal to the ith row of the matrix M. Since

M (h) = y = (y1 ; ; ym )

where yi = mi h, we see
m
X
2
kM (h)k = yi2 :
i=1

Then, by the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, we have

2 2 2
yi2 = (mi h) kmi k khk :

Let
2
= max kmi k
1 i m

so that
m
X m
X m
X
2 2 2 2 2
kM (h)k = yi2 kmi k khk khk = m khk :
i=1 i=1 i=1
p
Therefore we may choose = m to conclude

kM (h)k khk :

6. If f is di¤erentiable at a then

kf (a + h) f (a) M (h)k
lim = 0;
h!0 khk

which implies
lim kf (a + h) f (a) M (h)k = 0:
h!0

Now we use the triangle inequality and problem 5 to compute

kf (a + h) f (a)k = kf (a + h) f (a) M (h) + M (h)k

kf (a + h) f (a) M (h)k + kM (h)k
kf (a + h) f (a) M (h)k + khk

so that

lim kf (a + h) f (a)k lim kf (a + h) f (a) M (h)k + lim khk = 0:

h!0 h!0 h!0

Let h = x a and observe that x ! a as h ! 0. Since

lim kf (x) f (a)k = 0

x!a

we conclude that f is continuous at a.

4
 2
y2
7. (a) If f : R2 ! R where f (x; y) = x2 + 3y 2 e1 x then
h i
Df (x; y) = @f @x (x; y)
@f
@y (x; y)

where
@f x2 y 2 @f x2 y 2
= e1 (2x)[1 (x2 + 3y 2 )] and = e1 (2y)[3 (x2 + 3y 2 )]:
@x @y
So h i
@f @f
Df (0; 1) = @x (0; 1) @y (0; 1) = 0 0 :

Now let
x2 y 2
g(x; y; z) = f (x; y) z = x2 + 3y 2 e1 z
and observe that g(x; y; z) = 0 de…nes a surface since

f(x; y; z) 2 R3 : g(x; y; z) = 0g = graph(f )

and f is a C 1 map. The gradient vector to a surface de…ned by g(x; y; z) = c,

c 2 R; at a point (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ) is given by

@g @g @g
rg(x0 ; y0 ; z0 ) = ( (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ); (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ); (x0 ; y0 ; z0 )):
@x @y @z

Since the gradient vector is normal to the surface at (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ), the equation
of the tangent plane to a surface at a point (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ) is

rg(x0 ; y0 ; z0 ) (x x0 ; y y0 ; z z0 ) = 0:

Here rg(0; 1; 3) = (0; 0; 1) since @g

@z (x; y; z) = 1. Therefore, the equation of
the tangent plane to graph(f ) at (0; 1; 3) is

(0; 0; 1) (x 0; y 1; z 3) = 0 or z = 3:

(b) From part (a) we have

( (
@f x2 y 2
@x = 0 e1 (2x)[1 (x2 + 3y 2 )] = 0
@f , x2 y 2
:
@y = 0 e1 (2y)[3 (x2 + 3y 2 )] = 0

x2 y 2
But e1 > 0 so @f @f
@x = @y = 0 when either:
i. x = y = 0 or
ii. x = 0 and 3 (x2 + 3y 2 ) = 0 so y = 1 or
iii. y = 0 and 1 (x2 + 3y 2 ) = 0 so x = 1:
@f @f
Therefore, the solutions to the system of equations @x = @y = 0 are
(0; 0); (0; 1); and ( 1; 0):

5
 4

2
-4
z-2 0
2 4
-4 -2 0 02
-2 4
x y
-4

8. Let f : R3 ! R be a function given by

f (x; y; z) = 3(x 1)2 + 2(y + 1)2 (z 2)2

and let S = f(x; y; z) 2 R3 : f (x; y; z) = 1g be the level surface of the function

f at value c = 1:
(a) Since we want to …nd the set of points (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ) on S with the property
that the gradient rf (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ) is parallel to the vector v = 3i 2j + k, we
should …rst compute the gradient. Now, by de…nition,
@f @f @f
rf (x; y; z) = ( (x; y; z); (x; y; z); (x; y; z))
@x @y @z
so
rf (x; y; z) = (6(x 1); 4(y + 1); 2(z 2)):
But this vector is parallel to v if and only if rf (x; y; z) = v for some 2
R. Therefore, our desired set of points must satisfy the following system of
equations: 8 8
< 6(x 1) = 3 < x 1= 2
4(y + 1) = 2 , y+1= 2
: :
2(z 2) = z 2= 2
If we add the …rst two equations on the right then we get x + y = 0 and adding
the …rst and last equations gives us x + z = 3. Letting x = t yields y = t and
z = 3 t. Therefore,

l(t) = f(x; y; z) 2 R3 : (x; y; z) = (t; t; 3 t) where t 2 Rg

6
satis…es rf (x; y; z) = v for some 2 R. But we are not done since we have
no guarantee that all our (x; y; z) 2 l(t) also lie in S. To this end, we consider
S\l(t) = f(x; y; z) 2 R3 : f (x; y; z) = 1 and (x; y; z) = (t; t; 3 t) where t 2 Rg:
That is, we may …nd our desired set of (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ) by substituting (t; t; 3 t)
coordinate-wise into our surface equation and solving for t as in HW1 when we
found the points of intersection of a level surface and a line. So
2
3(t 1)2 + 2(t 1)2 (t 1)2 = 4 (t 1) = 1
yields t = 21 or 23 . We conclude that (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ) = f( 12 ; 1 5 3
2 ; 2 ); ( 2 ;
3 3
2 ; 2 )g. We
can check out solutions by observing that
1 1 5 1 1 5
rf ( ; ; ) = (6( 1); 4( + 1); 2( 2)) = v
2 2 2 2 2 2
so = 1. We similarly see that rf ( 32 ; 32 ; 32 ) = v so = 1:
(b) The general equation for the tangent plane of at (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ), Tp (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ),
is
Tp (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ) = f(x; y; z) 2 R3 : rf (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ) (x x0 ; y y0 ; z z0 ) = 0g:
Here, (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ) = f( 21 ; 1 5 3
2 ; 2 ); ( 2 ;
3 3
2 ; 2 )g and rf (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ) = v for some
2 R so
1 1 5 1 1 5
Tp ( ; ; ) = f(x; y; z) 2 R3 : (3; 2; 1) (x ;y + ;z ) = 0g
2 2 2 2 2 2
= f(x; y; z) 2 R3 : 3x 2y + z = 5g
We similarly …nd that
3 3 3 3 3 3
Tp ( ; ; ) = f(x; y; z) 2 R3 : (3; 2; 1) (x ;y + ;z ) = 0g
2 2 2 2 2 2
= f(x; y; z) 2 R3 : 3x 2y + z = 9g:

9. Let f : R3 ! R and g : R3 ! R. Suppose f is di¤erentiable and

rf (x) = g(x)x. Let c(t) = (x(t); y(t); z(t)) be a smooth path in
S 2 (a) = fx 2 R3 : kxk = ag:
That is, S 2 (a) is the surface of a sphere of radius a, centered at the origin. So,
2
kc(t)k = (x(t))2 + (y(t))2 + (z(t))2 = a2 :
We di¤erentiate both sides of this equality with respect to t and get
d 2 d
(kc(t)k ) = [(x(t))2 + (y(t))2 + (z(t))2 ]
dt dt
= 2x(t)x0 (t) + 2y(t)y 0 (t) + 2z(t)z 0 (t)
d
= 2c(t) c0 (t) = (a2 ) = 0:
dt

7
We conclude that if c(t) is a smooth path in S 2 (a) then c(t) c0 (t) = 0. Now,
as a special case of the chain rule,
d
[f (c(t))] = rf (c(t)) c0 (t).
dt
But, rf (x) = g(x)x by assumption and here we have x = c(t), so

rf (c(t)) c0 (t) = g(c(t))c(t) c0 (t) = 0

as
c(t) c0 (t) = 0:
Since
d
[f (c(t))] = 0;
dt
we conclude that f is constant on c(t). Since c(t) was an arbitrary smooth
curve in S 2 (a), we conclude that f (x) = c for all x 2 S 2 (a). That is, x 2 Lc (f ).
Finally, since x 2 S 2 (a) was arbitrary, so we conclude that S 2 (a) Lc (f ), as
desired.

10. (a) Let f : R3 ! R and let x0 = (x0 ; y0 ; z0 ). Regard Df (x0 ) as a linear

map Df (x0 ) : R3 ! R. Now, the kernel of Df (x0 ) is de…ned to be

ker(Df (x0 )) = fx 2 R3 : Df (x0 )(x) = 0g:

Since
Df (x0 ) 6= 0 0 0
we have rf (x0 ) 6= 0 so that rf (x0 ) is a normal vector to some unique plane
P through the origin. Let P denote the plane through the origin orthogonal to
rf (x0 ); that is,
P = fx 2 R3 : rf (x0 ) x = 0g:
To show that P = ker (Df (x0 )) we must show ker (Df (x0 )) P and P
ker (Df (x0 )). To show ker (Df (x0 )) P we choose some arbitrary x 2 ker (Df (x0 ))
and show that x 2 P . To this end, if x 2 ker (Df (x0 )) then

Df (x0 )(x) = 0:

Since the entires of the matrix Df (x0 ) are equal to the components of the vector
rf (x0 ), we see that
Df (x0 )(x) = rf (x0 ) x
where the term on the LHS (left hand side) is the real number obtained from
the matrix Df (x0 ) multiplying the column vector x and the RHS is the usual
dot product of two row vectors. Therefore

rf (x0 ) x = 0

8
and we conclude x 2 P . Since x 2 ker (Df (x0 )) was arbitrary, we have ker (Df (x0 ))
P . A similar agrument shows that P ker (Df (x0 )). We conclude P =
ker (Df (x0 )).
(b) If x0 = ( 21 ; 12 ; 52 ) then

1 1 5
rf ( ; ; ) = (3; 2; 1)
2 2 2
so that ker (Df (x0 )), or the tangent space to S at x0 , is de…ned by

3x 2y + z = 0:

Clearly this does not equal the tangent plane to S at x0 , which is de…ned by

3x 2y + z = 5: