Correcting Mistakes in Partial Differential Equations

aruwin
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I have calculated 3 times and I still don't get the answer. The answer should be 0.
Here's the question and my work. Which part am I wrong?


f(x,y) = 1/√(1-2xy+y^2)

Prove that ∂/∂x{(1-x^2)*∂f/∂x} + ∂/∂y{(y^2)*∂f/∂y} = 0
 

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The powers "-1/2" in the very first step for both fx and fy should be "+1/2".
 
haruspex said:
The powers "-1/2" in the very first step for both fx and fy should be "+1/2".

I think my first partial derivative is correct.

because the power of the original function is +1/2 so when we differentiate it,it becomes
1/2 - 1 = -1/2

But I don't get 0 for the final answer
 
Sorry, you're right. The mistakes are in the last line.
In fact, hardly any of the last line looks right to me!
E.g. the first term should be (writing g = 1/f):
[-2xyg3 + 3y2(1-x2)g]/g6
No?
 
haruspex said:
Sorry, you're right. The mistakes are in the last line.
In fact, hardly any of the last line looks right to me!
E.g. the first term should be (writing g = 1/f):
[-2xyg3 + 3y2(1-x2)g]/g6
No?

Yeah, I know what went wrong now :D I used the quotient rule incorrectly.
Thanks, I have solved this! :)
 
Last edited:
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...
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