MA1C 2010 HOMEWORK 3 SOLUTIONS

Problem 1
Let f(x, y) =
_
|xy|
a. Verify that f/x and f/y are both zero at the origin.
b. Does the surface z = f(x, y) have a tangent plane at the origin? [Hint: Consider the
section of the surface made by the plane x = y.]
Solution. a. f(x + h, 0) f(x, 0) =
_
|(x + h)0|
_
|x 0| = 0 0 = 0. So
f(x+h)f(x,0)
h
= 0, which
implies (f/x)(0, 0) = 0. By symmetry, the same is true for (f/y)(0, 0).
b. By part a, the only possible tangent plane is given by the equation z = 0x + 0y + f(0, 0) = 0.
Since f(x, x) =
_
|x
2
| = |x|, {(x, x, |x|) : x R} lies in the surface; but it is not tangent to the plane
{(x, y, 0) : x, y R}. Thus the surface does not have a tangent plane at the origin.
Problem 8.24.14
Let g(x, y, z) = y f(x) and h(x, y, z) = z
2
+ 2xz + y.
The cylinder is dened as the level surface g(x, y, z) = 0.
Suppose (a, b, c) is a common point to the two surfaces. The two surfaces are tangent to each other
at (a, b, c) if and only if they have the same tangent plane at this point.
Note that g(a, b, c) = (f

(a), 1, 0) and h(a, b, c) = (2c, 1, 2a + 2c).

By denition, the tangent plane of each surface is given by the equation g(a, b, c) (x, y, z) = 0 and
h(a, b, c) (x, y, z) = 0.
These two equations dene the same plane if and only if g(a, b, c) = t h(a, b, c) for some nonzero
scalar t, i.e. (f

(a), 1, 0) = t(2c, 1, 2a + 2c).

We immediately see t = 1 by comparing the second component. Then we have f

(a) = 2c and
0 = 2a + 2c. In particular, the second identity yields c = a. Because (a, b, c) satises h(a, b, c) = 0, if
we plug c = a into this, we get a
2
2a(a) + b = 0, i.e. b = a
2
.
So any common point must be of the form (a, a
2
, a). If we take f(x) = x
2
, any point of this form
is indeed a common point, and by computations above, the two surfaces are tangent at each common
point.
Problem 3. (Apostol, 9.15.10)
Find the minimum volume bounded by the planes x = 0, y = 0, z = 0, and a plane
which is tangent to the ellipsoid
x
2
a
2
+
y
2
b
2
+
z
2
c
2
= 1
at a point in the octant x > 0, y > 0, z > 0.
Let us start by nding the equation of the plane tangent the ellipsoid at a point (x
0
, y
0
, z
0
) in the
octant x > 0, y > 0, z > 0. Setting
g(x, y, z) =
x
2
a
2
+
y
2
b
2
+
z
2
c
2
,
we can view the ellipsoid as the level set
_
P R
3
| g(P) = 1
_
, we use the equation for the tangent plane
given on p.268 of Apostol:
g(x
0
, y
0
, z
0
)
_
(x, y, z) (x
0
, y
0
, z
0
)
_
= 0.
1
2 MA1C 2010 HOMEWORK 3 SOLUTIONS
(Note that this denition of the tangent plane is only made under the supposition that g(x
0
, y
0
, z
0
) = 0;
we will see below that this is the case, using the fact that x
0
> 0, y
0
> 0, and z
0
> 0.) The left hand
side is
g(x
0
, y
0
, z
0
)
_
(x, y, z) (x
0
, y
0
, z
0
)
_
=
_
2x
0
a
2
,
2y
0
b
2
,
2z
0
c
2
_
(x x
0
, y y
0
, z z
0
)
= 2
_
x
0
a
2
x +
y
0
b
2
y +
z
0
c
2
z
_
2
_
x
2
0
a
2
+
y
2
0
b
2
+
z
2
0
c
2
_
= 2
_
x
0
a
2
x +
y
0
b
2
y +
z
0
c
2
z
_
2,
where we have used the fact that f(x
0
, y
0
, z
0
) = 1 in passing between the 2nd and 3rd lines. Hence,
after getting rid of a factor of 2, we nd the equation of the tangent plane to be
x
0
a
2
x +
y
0
b
2
y +
z
0
c
2
z = 1.
Next we nd the points of intersection of this plane with the x-, y-, and z-axes:
_
a
2
x
0
, 0, 0
_
,
_
0,
b
2
y
0
, 0
_
,
_
0, 0,
c
2
z
0
_
Hence the volume we seek is that of the tetrahedron in R
3
whose vertices are given by these three points.
One formula for the volume of a tetrahedron is V = Ah/3, where A is the area of one triangular side
and h is the perpendicular distance from that side to the single vertex not contained in that side. In our
case we may take the triangular side which lies in the xy-plane and then h will be the z-coordinate of
the intersection of the tangent plane above with the z-axis: we get
V =
1
3

_
1
2

a
2
x
0

b
2
y
0
_

c
2
z
0
=
a
2
b
2
c
2
6x
0
y
0
z
0
.
Now we may rephrase the given problem as follows: Given a point (x
0
, y
0
, z
0
) such that x
0
> 0,
y
0
> 0, z
0
> 0, and such that
g(x
0
, y
0
, z
0
) =
x
2
0
a
2
+
y
2
0
b
2
+
z
2
0
c
2
= 1,
nd the minimum possible value of
f(x
0
, y
0
, z
0
) =
a
2
b
2
c
2
6x
0
y
0
z
0
.
To make the notation a little less cumbersome, lets replace (x
0
, y
0
, z
0
) in this problem by simply
(x, y, z).
This is a problem of nding a constrained minimum and so we use the method of Lagrange multipliers,
which is given on p.315 of Apostol or in Theorem 1 on p.10 of the Chapter 3 Notes. Suppose that
P = (x, y, z) satises:
(A) x > 0, y > 0, z > 0
(B) g(P) = 1
(C) Among all points satisfying the previous two items, f takes its minimum value at P. (In
particular, f has a relative minimum at P under these constraints.)
Then the scalar elds f and g are dierentiable at P, since this is true for all points satisfying item
(A). Moreover, g(P) = 0, again thanks to item (A), which of course implies that the set {g(P)}
is a linearly independent set in R
3
. Thus we have veried all hypotheses of the theorem on Lagrange
multipliers, and so we can conclude that there is some = 0 such that
f(P) = g(P),
MA1C 2010 HOMEWORK 3 SOLUTIONS 3
or more explicitly,
_

a
2
b
2
c
2
12x
2
yz
,
a
2
b
2
c
2
12xy
2
z
,
a
2
b
2
c
2
12xyz
2
_
=
_
2x
a
2
,
2y
b
2
,
2z
c
2
_
.
Along with the original equation g(P) = 1, this gives us four equations that P = (x, y, z) and satisfy:
x
2
a
2
+
y
2
b
2
+
z
2
c
2
= 1 (1)
a
4
b
2
c
2
= 24x
3
yz (2)
a
2
b
4
c
2
= 24xy
3
z (3)
a
2
b
2
c
4
= 24xyz
3
(4)
Now (2), (3), and (4) can be rearranged to give

a
2
b
2
c
2
24xyz
=
x
2
a
2
=
y
2
b
2
=
z
2
c
2
. (5)
As a result of the two equalities on the right side of (5), we can use (1) to obtain
1 = 3
_

a
2
b
2
c
2
24xyz
_
(6)
and hence

a
2
b
2
c
2
24xyz
=
1
3
. (7)
Now plugging (7) in for the left side of (5) gives
1
3
=
x
2
a
2
=
y
2
b
2
=
z
2
c
2
. (8)
We may assume without loss of generality that a > 0, b > 0, and c > 0, and so the assumption in item
(A) shows that (8) yields
x =
a

3
, y =
b

3
, z =
c

3
.
We conclude that if P satises items (A), (B), and (C) above, then
P =
_
a

3
,
b

3
,
c

3
_
.
In this case, the volume of the tetrahedron in question is
f
_
a

3
,
b

3
,
c

3
_
=
abc

3
2
.
Finally, we must address the following point: how do we know in the rst place that there are any
points P which satisfy items (A), (B), and (C)? (All weve shown is that, if such a point exists, then it
has to be the point
P =
_
a

3
,
b

3
,
c

3
_
,
but we dont know that this particular P satises item (C)!) To show the existence of such a point, we
use a compactness argument. First, note that if any one of x, y, or z is less than some > 0, then
(after using the equation g(x, y, z) = 1 to deduce that each of x, y, and z is at most max(a, b, c)) we
have
f(x, y, z) =
a
2
b
2
c
2
6xyz
>
a
2
b
2
c
2
6 max(a, b, c)
2
.
4 MA1C 2010 HOMEWORK 3 SOLUTIONS
In particular, we will have
f(x, y, z) >
a
2
b
2
c
2
6 max(a, b, c)
2
>
abc

3
2
= f
_
a

3
,
b

3
,
c

3
_
if is small enough. This tells us that if any of x, y, or z is less than , then f cannot possibly attain
its constrained minimum at (x, y, z) (if such a minimum exists). Therefore, in searching for constrained
minima of f, we may focus our attention on the set
S = {(x, y, z) | x , y , z , and g(x, y, z) = 1}
= {(x, y, z)|x } {(x, y, z) | y }
{(x, y, z) | z } {(x, y, z) | g(x, y, z) = 1} .
This set S is the intersection of four closed sets (which can be seen using Lemma 2 on p.15 of the Chapter
1 Notes), and hence S is closed. Moreover, S is bounded, since all three coordinates of the points in S
are bounded below by 0 and above by max(a, b, c). So S is a closed and bounded set in R
3
, which means
it is compact by Theorem 5 on p.12 of the Chapter 1 Notes. Now it can be shown that a continuous
function on a compact set (such as the function f(x, y, z) on the compact set S) actually attains absolute
minimum and maximum values. (This fact can be proven by using Lemma 3 on p.15 and Theorem 4 on
p.12 of the Chapter 1 Notes, plus a little more work.) Hence we conclude (as we wished to) that there
is some point P S such that f attains its absolute minimum there, i.e., it satises items (A), (B), and
(C) above.
Problem 4. (starred problem)
Dene a scalar eld f : R
2
R by
f(x, y) = xy(1 x
2
y
2
)
(a) Find all the stationary points of f in the open rectuangular box {(x, y)|0 < x, y <
1}, as well as the determinant of the Hessian matrix of f at these points.
(b) Enumerate (with proof) the relative extrema, absolute extrema, and the saddle
points of f in the closed rectangular box {(x, y)|0 x, y 1}
The stationary points of f are the points where f = (f/x, f/y) = (0, 0). The rst order partial
derivatives are
f
x
= y(1 3x
2
y
2
),
f
y
= x(1 x
2
3y
2
).
For the gradient to be zero, both partial derivatives must be zero. Since we are looking for stationary
points in the interior of the rectangle box, we see that x = 0, and y = 0, so at any stationary point, the
conditions that are satised are
1 3x
2
y
2
= 0,
1 x
2
3y
2
= 0.
These equations are linear in x
2
and y
2
. The solution to these equations is x
2
= 1/4, y
2
= 1/4.
Therefore, there are four solutions in total: (1/2, 1/2), (1/2, 1/2), (1/2, 1/2), (1/2, 1/2), The only
solution which lies in the open rectangular box is (1/2, 1/2). The Hessian of f is given by the matrix
_

2
f
x
2

2
f
xy

2
f
yx

2
f
y
2
.
_
MA1C 2010 HOMEWORK 3 SOLUTIONS 5
The second order partial derivatives are

2
f
x
2
= 6xy

2
f
xy
= 1 3x
2
3y
2

2
f
yx
= 1 3x
2
3y
2

2
f
y
2
= 6xy
.
The determinant of the Hessian matrix equals 2 at the stationary point (1/2, 1/2).
Now let us classify the stationary point as either a relative minimum, relative maximum, or saddle
point. Since the second partial derivatives of f are all continuous, we may apply the Hessian test. The
determinant of the Hessian matrix here is positive. At (1/2, 1/2),

2
f
x
2
= 6xy < 0. Therefore, this
point is a relative maximum, with the value f(x, y) = 1/8.
Now all we have to do is determine the absolute extrema of f in the closed rectangular box. Absolute
extrema will either be located on the boundary of the box or in its interior. Since f is dierentiable
everywhere in the interior of the rectangular box, an absolute extremum in the interior will be in
particular a relative extremum at a stationary point of f. Therefore (1/2, 1/2) is an absolute maximum
if f does not attain a value larger than 1/8 on the boundary. Let us consider the boundary one side at a
time. On the sides corresponding to x = 0, and y = 0, f(x, y) = 0, and so f has no absolute extrema on
these sides. On the side x = 1, f(x, y) = y
3
. Therefore f attains a maximum value of 0 at (1, 0) and a
minimum value of -1 at (1, 1) on this side. By symmetry, we see that on the side y = 1, f(x, y) = x
3
,
and that the maximum value of f is 0 at (0,1) and 1 at (1, 1). Therefore we see that the f attains its
absolute maximum value of 1/8 at (1/2, 1/2), and its absolute minimum value of -1 at (1, 1).