Chapter 13.

Chapter 13. Partial Derivatives

§13.1. Functions of Several variables.


1. Let         .

(a) Evaluate     
 .

(b) Find a domain of .
(c) Find a range of .
(d) Sketch the graph of the function .

2. Sketch some level curves of the function         .

Chapter 13.

§13.2. Limits and Continuity.

1. Find the limit if it exists, or show that the limit does not exist.
  
(a) lim   
 →    

sin
(b) lim   
 →    

 cos
(c) lim   
→   


(d) lim   
 →    

  
(e) lim   
→   

2. Using the    definition of the limit, prove that the limit exists.
  
(a) lim   
 →    


(b) lim 
 →   

3. Determine the set of points at which the function is continuous.

   
(a) tan  
 
 
 if    ≠   
(b)      
   
 if       

4. Use polar coordinates to find the limit.

    
 
(a) lim 
→   
sin   
(b) lim 
→   
Chapter 13.

§13.3. Partial Derivatives.

1. Find the first partial derivatives of the function.

(a)        

(b)            

2. If          arcsin

 , find  .

 
     ≠   
3. Find    if         .
  
        

4. Use implicit differentiation to find  and  if   .

   
 if    ≠   
5. Let          .
  
 if       
(a) Find     and     when    ≠   .
(b) Find     and    .
(c) Show that       and      .


6. The temperature at a point    on a flat metal plate is given by       , where 
    
is measured in  and    in meters. Find the rate of change of temperature with respect to
the distance at the point    in the  direction.

7. The ellipsoid      intersects the plane    in an ellipse.

Find the parametric equations for the tangent line to this ellipse at the point    .


8. Verify that the function    is a solution of the Laplace equation       .

    



That is,    satisfies       .

    

Chapter 13.

§13.4. Tangent Planes and Linear Approximations.

1. Find an equation of the tangent plane to the surface   ln    at the point    .


2. Verify the linear approximation at   : 
  cos ≈    


3. Let         cos .

(a) Using the linear approximation of  at   , approximate    .
(b) Using differentials of , approximate    .


4. Find the linear approximation of the function             at      and use it to

approximate the number         .

5. If        and  changes from   to  , compare the value of ∆, .

6. For a function          , to show that       is differentiable at   , find values
of  and  such that ∆     ∆     ∆  ∆  ∆→ and  , → as
∆ ∆ →  , where ∆ is the increment of  corresponding to the increment △ and △
of  and .

7. Prove that if  is a function of two variables that is differentiable at  , then  is continuous
at   . [Hint : Show that lim             ]
 → 

8. Use differentials to estimate the amount of tin in a closed tin can with diameter cm and height
cm if the tin is cm thick. (Consider the can have top and bottom)

 
 if    ≠   
9. Consider the function       
  . Show that     and    

 if     
both exist, but  is not differentiable at   .
Chapter 13.

§13.5. The Chain Rule.

1. Find  and .

(a)   arcsin              

(b)    cos          

2. Assume that  has continuous second-order partial derivatives. If   , where
 
     and   , find  .


3. The length , width , and height  of a box change with time. At a certain instant the
dimensions are    and     , and  and  are increasing at a rate of  while  is
decreasing at a rate of . At that instant find the rates at which the following quantities are
changing.
(a) The volume
(b) The length of a diagonal

4. Assume that all the given functions have continuous second-order partial derivatives. Show that
  
 
any function of the form             is a solution of the wave equation     .
 
[Hint : Let     ,     ]

 
5. If       , where      and     , show that        .




 


6. Suppose that the equation       implicitly defines each of the three variables  , and 
as functions of the other two:   ,      ,      . If  is differentiable and  
  
and  are all nonzero, show that      .
  
Chapter 13.

§13.6. Directional Derivatives and the Gradient Vector.

1. Find the directional derivative of the function      tan    at the point    in the
direction of the vector 〈 〉.

2. Let                〈  〉.

(a) Evaluate the gradient of  at the point  .
(b) Find the rate of change of  at  in the direction of the vector .


3. Find the maximum rate of change of             at the point   and the
direction in which it occurs.

4. Suppose that the over a certain region of space the electrical potential  is given by
          .
(a) Find the rate of change of the potential at     in the direction of the vector      .
(b) In which direction does  change most rapidly at  ?
(c) What is the maximum rate of change at  ?

5. Suppose you are climbing a hill whose shape is given by the equation        ,
where   and  are measured in meters you are standing at a point with coordinates
  . The positive -axis points east and the positive -axis points north.
(a) If you walk due south, will you start to ascend or descend? At what rate?
(b) If you walk northwest will you start to ascend or descend? At what rate?
(c) In which direction is the slope largest? What is the rate of ascent in that direction?
At what angle above horizontal does the path in that direction begin?

6. Let  be a function of two variables that has continuous partial derivatives and consider the
points    ,    ,    , and    . The directional derivative of  at  in the direction
of the vector   is , and the directional derivative at  ib the direction of   is .
Find the directional derivative of  at  in the direction of the vectors  ,

7. Suppose that  is a differentiable function of one variable. Show that all tangent planes to the
surface      intersect in a common point.

 
〈 〉
8. If           and     , calculate    .
 

9. Find equations of the tangent plane and the normal line to the surface        at the
point    .

10. Find parametric equations for the tangent line to the curve of intersection of the paraboloid
     and the ellipsoid        at the point     .
Chapter 13.

§13.7. Maximum and Minimum Values.

1. Find the local maximum, minimum values and saddle points of the function
          .

2. Find the absolute maximum and minimum values of  on the set  .

(a)            ,     ≤    ≤ 
(b)         ,         ≤ 

3. Show that         has an infinite number of critical points and   
at each one. Then show that  has a local (and absolute) minimum at each critical point.

4. Find the shortest distance from the point     to the plane       .

5. Find three positive numbers whose sum is  and the sum of whose squares is as small as
possible.

6.(a) A cardboard box without a lid is to have a volume of   cm . Find the dimensions that
minimize the amount of cardboard used.
(b) Find the maximum volume of a rectangular box that is inscribed in a sphere of radius .

7. Find an equation of the plane that passes through the point     and cuts off the smallest
volume in first octant.
Chapter 13.

§13.8. Lagrange Multipliers.

1. Use Lagrange multipliers to find the maximum and minimum values of the function subject to
the given constraint.
(a)            
(b)               

2. Find the extreme values of  subject to both constraints.

(a)                        
(b)                  

3. Find the volume of the largest rectangular box in the first octant with three faces in the
coordinate planes and one vertex in the plane       .

4. Prove that the rectangle with maximum area that has a given perimeter  is a square.

5. When the temperature of the ellipsoid        is         , find the highest
temperature on the ellipsoid.

6. Find the extreme values of        on the region described by    ≤ .

 
7. (a) Find the maximum value of         given that    are positive
numbers and       , where  is a constant.
(b) Deduce from part (a) that if    are positive numbers, then
    

 ≤  .
