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13.7. Tangent Planes and Normal Lines: Goals

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13.7. Tangent Planes and Normal Lines: Goals

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Sylvester Wasonga
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2013 Spring Calculus with Analytic Geometry III by Larson & Edwards

Lecture 19
13.7. Tangent Planes and Normal Lines
Goals: (1) Find equations of tangent planes and normal lines to surfaces.
(2) Find the angle of inclination of a plane in space.
(3) Compare the gradients ∇𝑓 𝑥, 𝑦 and ∇𝐹 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 .

Questions:
 Why do we study the gradient of a function 𝑧 = 𝑓 𝑥, 𝑦 ?

13.7.1. Review: level surface


Example 1: describe level surface given by 𝐹 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 = 0 (p. 945)
 Try exercises 1-4
13.7.2. Tangent plane and normal line to a surface
Use an implicit function to study a surface.
(1) Definition:
Let 𝐹 be a differentiable function at the point 𝑃 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 on the surface
𝑆 given by 𝐹 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 = 0 such that ∇𝐹 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 ≠ 0. Then
 The plane through 𝑃 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 that is normal to ∇𝐹 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 is
called the tangent plane to 𝑆 at 𝑃.
 The line through 𝑃 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 that has the direction of ∇𝐹 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0
is called the normal line to 𝑆 at 𝑃.
(2) How to find an equation of tangent plane to the surface 𝐹 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 = 0?
𝐹𝑥 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 𝑥 − 𝑥0 + 𝐹𝑦 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 𝑦 − 𝑦0 + 𝐹𝑧 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 𝑧 − 𝑧0 = 0
(3) How to find an equation of tangent plane to the surface 𝑧 = 𝑓 𝑥, 𝑦 ?
𝑓𝑥 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 𝑥 − 𝑥0 + 𝑓𝑦 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 𝑦 − 𝑦0 − 𝑧 − 𝑧0 = 0
Note: Let 𝐹 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 = 𝑓 𝑥, 𝑦 − 𝑧 = 0.
(4) Examples 2, 3: finding an equation of a tangent plane (pp. 947-948)
 Try exercises 17-30
(5) How to find an equation of normal line to the surface 𝐹 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 = 0?
Answer: Use ∇𝐹 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 as the directional vector! In other words, the
gradient is normal to the surface.
(6) Example 4: finding an equation of a normal line (p. 948)
 Try exercises 31-40
(7) Example 5: finding the equation of a tangent line to a curve (p. 949)
 The cross product of two gradients will be the directional vector of the
common tangent line to those two surfaces. See Figure 13.61.
 Try exercises 41-46

MTH-201-201 Page 1 of 2 ECC


2013 Spring Calculus with Analytic Geometry III by Larson & Edwards

13.7.3. The angle of inclination of a plane


Another use of the gradient is to determine the angle of inclination of a plane
𝜋
(between the plane and the 𝑥𝑦-plane, 0 ≤ 𝜃 ≤ 2 ) that is tangent to a surface.
(1) Let 𝑛 be a normal vector of a plane, and 𝑘 = 0, 0, 1 . Then the angle of
inclination of a plane is given by:
𝑛∙𝑘
cos θ =
𝑛
(2) If 𝐹 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 = 0, then
∇𝐹 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 = 𝐹𝑥 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 𝑖 + 𝐹𝑦 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 𝑗 + 𝐹𝑧 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 𝑘.
In particular, if 𝑧 = 𝑓 𝑥, 𝑦 , then 𝐹 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 = 𝑓 𝑥, 𝑦 − 𝑧 = 0, and
∇𝐹 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 = 𝑓𝑥 𝑥, 𝑦 𝑖 + 𝑓𝑦 𝑥, 𝑦 𝑗 − 𝑘.
(3) Example 6: finding the angle of inclination of a tangent plane (p. 950)
 Use the gradient as the normal vector to the tangent plane!
 Try exercises 47-50
13.7.4. The gradient of 𝑭 𝒙, 𝒚, 𝒛 = 𝟎
(1) Recall that in Section 13.6, if 𝑓 is differentiable at 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 and
∇𝑓 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 ≠ 0, then ∇𝑓 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 is normal to the level curve through
𝑥0 , 𝑦0 .
(2) Similarly, if 𝐹 is differentiable at 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 and ∇𝐹 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 ≠ 0, then
the gradient ∇𝐹 𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 is normal to the level surface through
𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 .
(3) Notice that ∇𝑓 𝑥, 𝑦 is a vector in the 𝑥𝑦-plane and ∇𝐹 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 is a vector
in space.
13.7.5. Homework Set #19
 Read 13.7 (pages 945-950).
 Do exercises on pages 951-953:
2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 41, 43, 45, 49, 51,
53

MTH-201-201 Page 2 of 2 ECC

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