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Cal145 Directional Derivatives and Gradients of Functions of Three Variables

This document discusses directional derivatives and gradients of functions of three variables. It defines the directional derivative and gradient of a function f(x,y,z) at a point (a,b,c). The gradient is a vector of the partial derivatives of f with respect to each variable and is perpendicular to the level surfaces of f. Properties of the gradient include indicating the direction of maximum/minimum change. Examples show computing gradients and directional derivatives, and finding equations of tangent planes to level surfaces.

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44 views4 pages

Cal145 Directional Derivatives and Gradients of Functions of Three Variables

This document discusses directional derivatives and gradients of functions of three variables. It defines the directional derivative and gradient of a function f(x,y,z) at a point (a,b,c). The gradient is a vector of the partial derivatives of f with respect to each variable and is perpendicular to the level surfaces of f. Properties of the gradient include indicating the direction of maximum/minimum change. Examples show computing gradients and directional derivatives, and finding equations of tangent planes to level surfaces.

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marchelo_chelo
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Arkansas Tech University

MATH 2934: Calculus III


Dr. Marcel B. Finan
15 Directional Derivatives and Gradients of
Functions of Three Variables
In the previous section we dened the gradient and directional derivatives of
functions of two variables. The results of that section also apply to functions
having three or more variables. If f(x, y, z) is dierentiable at (a, b, c) then
the directional derivative of f(x, y, z) at (a, b, c) in the direction of the
unit vector u = u
1

i + u
2

j + u
3

k is dened by
f
u
(a, b, c) = lim
h0
f(a + hu
1
, b + hu
2
, c + hu
3
) f(a, b, c)
h
.
As in the case of functions in two variables, one can derive an algebraic
formula for the directional derivative given by
f
u
(a, b, c) = f
x
(a, b, c)u
1
+ f
y
(a, b, c)u
2
+ f
z
(a, b, c)u
3
.
Example 15.1
Find the directional derivative of f(x, y, z) = x
2
z+y
3
z
2
xyz in the direction
of v =

i + 3

k.
Solution.
Since ||v|| =

10, v is not a unit vector. Thus, we let


u =
1

10

i +
3

10

k.
Hence,
f
u
(x, y, z) =f
x
(x, y, z)u
1
+ f
y
(x, y, z)u
2
+ f
z
(x, y, z)u
3
=
1

10
(2xz yz) +
3

10
(x
2
+ 2y
3
z xy)
As in the case of functions of two variables, we can write
f
u
(a, b, c) = f(a, b, c) u
where we dene the gradient of f(x, y, z) at (a, b, c) to be the vector
f(a, b, c) = f
x
(a, b, c)

i + f
y
(a, b, c)

j + f
z
(a, b, c)

k.
Using the same arguments as we did in the previous lecture we see that the
gradient has the following properties in space
1
Theorem 15.1
If f is dierentiable at (a, b, c) with f(a, b, c) =

0, then
(i) f increases in the direction of f(a, b, c).
(ii) The maximum of f
u
(a, b, c) occurs in the direction of f(a, b, c) with
maximum value ||f(a, b, c)||.
(iii) The minimum of f
u
(a, b, c) occurs in the direction of f(a, b, c) with
minimum value of ||f(a, b, c)||.
(iv) f(a, b, c) is perpendicular to the level surface of f at (a, b, c)
Example 15.2
Let f(x, y, z) = x
2
+y
2
. Describe the directions of the vectors f(0, 1, 1) and
f(1, 0, 1).
Solution.
We note that both points (0, 1, 1) and (1, 0, 1) satisfy the equation x
2
+y
2
= 1
which is the level surface of f corresponding to the value 1. This is the
equation of a cylinder and since f does not depend on z, the gradients will
only have components in the x and y directions i.e. are horizontal. The
gradients are perpendicular to the surface of the cylinder and point outward
because the value of f increases in the outward direction as shown in Figure
15.1(a)
Figure 15.1
2
Example 15.3
Let f(x, y, z) = (x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
). Describe the directions of the vectors
f(0, 1, 1) and f(1, 0, 1).
Solution.
Both points belong to the level surface with equation (x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
) = 2
which is the sphere x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
= 2. The gradient is again perpendicular to
the surface and points inward since the negative signs mean that the function
increases (from negative numbers with large absolute values to negative num-
bers with small absolute values) in the inward direction as shown in Figure
15.1(b)
Example 15.4
Let f(x, y) = 4 x
2
2y
2
. Compute the vector perpendicular to
(a) the contour curve at (1, 1)
(b) the surface z = f(x, y) at the point (1, 1, 1)
Solution.
(a) Since f(1, 1) = 1, (1, 1) belongs to the level curve x
2
+ 2y
2
= 3 which is
an ellipse. The gradient is
f(1, 1) = 2

i 4

j
which is the required normal vector.
(b) If g(x, y, z) = f(x, y) z = 4 x
2
2y
2
z then g(1, 1, 1) = 0 so that
(1, 1, 1) belongs to the level surface g(x, y, z) = 0. Thus,
g(1, 1, 1) = 2

i 4

k
is the required normal vector
Tangent Plane to a Level Surface
We now take a look at tangent planes for functions of three variables. Sup-
pose that f(x, y, z) is dierentiable at (a, b, c). Then the vector
f(a, b, c) = f
x
(a, b, c)

i + f
y
(a, b, c)

j + f
z
(a, b, c)

k
is perpendicular to the tangent plane to the level surface of f(x, y, z) at
(a, b, c). If (x, y, z) is any point in the tangent plane then f(a, b, c) is per-
pendicular to the vector from (a, b, c) to (x, y, z). This implies that
f
x
(a, b, c)(x a) + f
y
(a, b, c)(y b) + f
z
(a, b, c)(z c) = 0
3
which is the equation of the tangent plane to the level surface f at the point
(a, b, c).
Example 15.5
Find the equation of the tangent plane to the sphere x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
= 14 at
the point (1, 2, 3).
Solution.
Let f(x, y, z) = x
2
+y
2
+z
2
. The given sphere is the level surface f(x, y, z) =
14. Since
f(x, y, z) = 2x

i + 2y

j + 2z

k,
the normal vector to the tangent plane at (1, 2, 3) is
f(1, 2, 3) = 2

i + 4

j + 6

k.
Hence, the equation of the tangent plane is
2(x 1) + 4(y 2) + 6(z 3) = 0
or
x + 2y + 3z = 14
4

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