WEEK 3

Contents:
1. MULTIVARIABLE FUNCTIONS
1.1 Functions of One Variable
 Examples
1.2 Functions of Two Variables
 Examples
1.3 Functions of Three Variables
 Examples

2. PARTIAL DERIVATIVES
2.1 Definition of Partial Derivatives
 First Order Partial Derivatives
 Second Order Partial Derivatives
2.2 Chain Rules (Partial Derivatives of
Composite Functions)
2.3 Partial Derivatives of an Implicit Function

Prepared by: Dr Ahmad Qushairi Mohamad

MULTIVARIABLE
FUNCTIONS
 1.1 Functions of One Variable

y  f  x
The function of f is called a real-valued function of
one variable or simply: function of one variable.

Examples:

FUNCTION NAME
y  ax  b
y  ax 2  bx  c
y  ax3  bx 2  cx  d
 1.2 Functions of Two Variables

z  f  x, y 
The function of f is called a real-valued function of
two variables or simply: function of two variables.

We refer to x and y as the independent variables

and z as the dependent variable.

1.3 Functions of Three Variables

w  f  x, y , z 
The function of w is called a real-valued function of
three variables or simply: function of three
variables.

We refer to x, y and z as the independent variables

and w as the dependent variable.
 INTRODUCTION NOTE

The function that we are dealing with in this topic is

a function with two and three independent variables.

 f ( x )  2 x 3
 ln x  sin x
- 1 independent variable which is x

 f ( x , y )  2 xy  y 3
 e x

- 2 independent variables which are x and y

 f ( x, y, z )  3z  xy  sin( xz )
- 3 independent variables which are x, y and z

The dependent variable is not necessarily using the letter

f. It could be any available letter.
Example:

V  x, h   x 2  xh ,

ct
p(r , t )  4
r (c is a constant)
 PARTIAL
DERIVATIVES
 2.1 Definition of Partial Derivative

First order partial derivatives

Definition:
The partial derivative of f ( x, y ) with respect to x, that
is f x ( x, y ) , is obtained by holding y constant and
differentiating with respect to x. The partial derivative
with respect to y, that is f y ( x, y ) is obtained by holding
x constant and differentiating with respect to y.
f ( x  x , y )  f ( x , y )
f x ( x, y )  lim
x  0 x

f ( x , y  y )  f ( x , y )
f y ( x, y )  lim
y  0 y

f f
Other notations: f x  , fy 
x y

Partial derivatives at a point  xo , yo  :

f f f
f x  xo , yo  = ,   xo , yo 
x  xo , yo  x x  xo , y  yo x
Note:

 The stylized “d” symbol in the notation is called

roundback d, curly d or del d.

 It is not the usual derivative d (dee) or  (delta d).

Recall: Differentiation
 REMEMBER

Differentiate with respect to one of its

variables while keeping the other
variables fixed (regarding as constant)

Example 1: Find f x and f y for the following

functions:
a) f ( x, y )  x y  x y  4 x  5 y ,
3 2 2
b) f ( x, y )  2 y sin x  7e  6e
4 x y
Example 2: Find f x (0,1) and f y (0,1) if

f ( x, y )  2 x 2  3 x 2 y  y 2  x  y  1
 EXERCISE/TUTORIAL

 y
Show that u  ln( x 2  y 2 ) and v  2 tan 1   satisfy the equations
x
u v u v
 and 
x y y x
The rules for differentiating functions of a
single variable holds in calculating partial
derivatives.
- Product rules, quotient rules, chain rules

Recall:
Differentiation Rules
Constant d
Rule c   0, c constant
dx
Power Rule d n
x  nx n1
dx

Product d
Rule u ( x)v( x)  u '( x)v( x)  u ( x)v '( x)
dx

Quotient
Rule d  u ( x) u '( x)v( x)  u ( x)v '( x) 
  
dx  v( x)  v( x)2


Chain Rule d
dx
 f  g ( x)   f '  g ( x)  g '( x)
Example 3:
Determine the partial derivatives of the
following functions with respect to each of the
independent variables:
(a) f ( x, y )  xy 2 ln( x)
(b) z  ( x  3 y)
2 5
(c) z  x cos(2 x 2  5 y )
 sin( x  2 y )
(d) f ( x, y ) 
(1  4 x  3 y )
 For a function of three independent
variables x, y and z, that is f ( x, y, z ) ,
there are three partial derivatives:
fx and fy and fz
The partial derivative fx is calculated by
holding y and z constant. Likewise, for f y and
fz.
Example 4:
x
Let f ( x , y , z )  cos 2
x  2  ye y 3
z , find:
y
(a) fx
(b) fy

(c) f z
 Higher Order Partial Derivatives
If f ( x, y ) is a function with two variables, then
f x ( x, y ) and f y ( x, y ) are also functions with
two variables. Partial derivatives of f x ( x, y )
and f y ( x, y ) are the second-order partial
derivatives of f ( x, y ) and they are defined as:

  f   2 f
 f x  x  f xx    2
x  x  x
  f   2 f
 f x  y  f xy   
y  x  yx
  f   2 f
 f y  x  f yx   
x  y  xy
  f   2 f
 f y  y  f yy    2
y  y  y
Example 5:
f , f , f , f
Find xx xy yx yy of f ( x , y )  x 2 3y
e
 Theorem 1 (Euler Theorem)
If f , f x , f y , f xy and f yx are continuous
and defined in an open space that
contains a point (a, b) , then
f xy (a, b)  f yx (a, b)
 EXERCISE/TUTORIAL

 x  x 
If z  e  t sin    cos    where c is a constant value, show that
 c  c 
z 2  z
2
c .
t x 2
 EXERCISE/TUTORIAL

If f  x, y   2 x  y 2  e  x cos  y  , show that

f  2 f
 2  0.
x y
 EXERCISE/TUTORIAL

2 f
Find the derivative of if the function is given as
yx

f  x, y   xy  ln  xy 2   e x cos  xy 
2.2 Chain rules (Partial Derivatives of Composite
Functions)
For the case of z f (x, y) and at the same time,
x and y are functions of a single variable t,

x x(t) and y y(t)

Then z f (x(t), y(t)) is a composition

function of a parameter t.

dz
Thus, we can calculate the derivative given
dt
by the following theorem.
 Theorem 2
If z f (x, y) is differentiable and x and y are
differentiable functions of t, then z is a
differentiable function of t and
dz z dx z dy x t
  z
dt x dt y dt y t

Example 6:
z
Suppose that z  x 3 y where x  ln  2t  and y  t 2 cos  t  . Find .
t
 EXERCISE/TUTORIAL

by using chain rule where w  ln  x  2 y  z 2  , x  2t  1,

dw
Find
dt
1
y and z  t .
t
 For 3 independent
variables, just add
Example 7: one more term

Find
dw by using the chain rule if w  xyz with
dt
x  t 3 , y  t 2 and z  t 4 .
 Theorem 3

If z  f (u , v ) , u  g ( x, y ) and v  h( x, y )
and the partial derivatives of f, g, and h
exist, then
z z u z v
 
x u x v x
z z u z v
 
y u y v y

x Other case (from many other

cases): x
u y y
z u
x z
v x
y w
v y

Note: z
The alphabet/letter
used to represent the
variables could be
anything.
Chain rule can be extended to function with any
multiple variables.

If w  f (u , v, r ) ,
u  g ( x, y, z ), v  h( x, y, z ) and
r  s ( x, y , z ) , then

w w u w v w r
  
x u x v x r x

w w u w v w r
  
y u y v y r y

w w u w v w r
  
z u z v z r z
 EXERCISE/TUTORIAL

Given z  xy 3  4 x 2 , where x  u 3  u sin  v  and y  u 2  1 . By

z 
using chain rule, find when u  0 and v  .
u 2
 EXERCISE/TUTORIAL

If u  x 4 y  y 2 z 3 , where x  rset , y  rs 2 et , and z  sr 2 sin  t  find the

u
value of where r  2 , s  1 and t  0 .
s
EXERCISE/TUTORIAL
EXERCISE/TUTORIAL
 EXERCISE/TUTORIAL

 ln y 
If z  f   , show that
 x 
z  x  z
y    0.
y  ln y  x
EXERCISE/TUTORIAL
EXERCISE/TUTORIAL
EXERCISE/TUTORIAL
 2.2 Implicit Function (Partial Derivatives)
Before this, we dealt with an explicit function
 A function in which the dependent variable
can be written explicitly in terms of the
independent variable.
E.g: z  ( x 2
 3 y ) 5
 Explicit Function

What is implicit function?

z is a function of two variable x and y (z is
dependent variable, x and y are independent
variables), but z cannot be explicitly expressed in
terms of x and y.
E.g: 𝑥𝑦 2 + 𝑧𝑦 = −𝑥 sin 𝑧  Implicit Function

Theorem 4
If F ( x, y, z )  0 implicitly defines a differentiable
function z as a function of two variables x and y,
then
z F ( x, y , z ) z Fy ( x, y, z )
 x , 
x Fz ( x, y, z ) y Fz ( x, y, z )

*Proof can be found in reference books.

Example 8:
z z
Find and y if z is a function of two variable x
x
and y is implicitly defined as

a) xy 2  zy   x sin  y 3  2 z 
b) e
xy
 ln z  x  y
c) cos( x  2 z )  3 y 2 ln y  2 xyz  0
 EXERCISE/TUTORIAL

Let z be defined implicitly as a function of x and y by the equation

e yz sin  xy   ye z  2  3ln  2   2ln  x 

z
Find .
x
 EXERCISE/TUTORIAL

Let z be defined implicitly as a function of x and y by the equation

 y 1 z
xe yz  3z tan 1    ln  x 2  z 2   1. Find .
x 2 y
EXERCISE/TUTORIAL
EXERCISE/TUTORIAL