Cal 3 Surfaces: Finding Derivatives at (1,1,1)

  • Thread starter Thread starter lisa92
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Surfaces
lisa92
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Given that the surface x^8y^7+y^3z^6+z^8x63+6xyz=9 has the equation z=f(x,y) in a neighbourhod of the point (1,1,1) with f(x,y) differentiable, find the derivatives

fx(1,1)=

fy(1,1)=

Attempt: I tried plugging (1,1,1) in fx but it wasnt rigth. We haven't seen this in class and I don't know what to do.

Thanks
 
Physics news on Phys.org
If a funtion z = f(x,y) is defined implicitly by F(x,y,z)= 0 as in your problem, you can use the formulas:

f_x = -\frac {F_x}{F_z}\hbox{ and }f_y=-\frac{F_y}{F_z}
 
Hi lisa92! :smile:

I'd like to show you how to derive the formulas of LCKurtz.

With F(x,y,z)=0 you have:

d(F(x,y,z))=F_x(x,y,z)dx + F_y(x,y,z)dy + F_z(x,y,z)dz=0


From this you can find:

dz={-F_x(x,y,z)dx - F_y(x,y,z)dy \over F_z(x,y,z)}


Taking partial derivatives (for which the other coordinate is considered constant):

{\partial z \over \partial x}={-F_x(x,y,z) \over F_z(x,y,z)}

{\partial z \over \partial y}={-F_y(x,y,z) \over F_z(x,y,z)}


This can also be written as the formulas LCKurtz gave:

f_x={-F_x \over F_z}

f_y={-F_y \over F_z}
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...

Similar threads

Back
Top