Directional Derivative Equal to Zero

Parmenides
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The problem states:

"In what direction is the directional derivative of f(x,y) = \frac{x^2 - y^2}{x^2 + y^2} at (1,1) equal to zero?"

I know that ##D_uf = \nabla{f}\cdot{{\bf{u}}}##. I believe the problem simply is asking for me to determine what vector ##{\bf{u}}## will yield zero. Thus:
\nabla{f} = \left\langle\frac{4xy^2}{{(x^2 + y^2)}^2},\frac{-4{x^2}y}{{(x^2 + y^2)}^2}\right\rangle
At the point (1,1), we get ##\nabla{f} = \left\langle{1},{-1}\right\rangle##. From here, I think that a vector taken with the dot product of ##\left\langle{1},{-1}\right\rangle## to give zero would be ##\left\langle{1},{1}\right\rangle##. I'm not sure if it's that simple though because I could also say that ##\left\langle{0},{0}\right\rangle## gives zero, too. Perhaps my justification is flawed? Much appreciated.
 
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Assuming your derivative is right it looks good except why would you say <0,0> gives zero? Also besides <1,1>, what about its opposite?
 
Assuming your derivative is right it looks good except why would you say <0,0> gives zero? Also besides <1,1>, what about its opposite?

True. I guess I was thinking that the problem was seeking a single answer. As for the former, ##\left\langle{0},{0}\right\rangle \cdot \left\langle{1},{-1}\right\rangle = 0##, but I suppose that's not really even a "direction" at all... ><
 
Parmenides said:
True. I guess I was thinking that the problem was seeking a single answer. As for the former, ##\left\langle{0},{0}\right\rangle \cdot \left\langle{1},{-1}\right\rangle = 0##, but I suppose that's not really even a "direction" at all... ><

While it's true that ##\left\langle{0},{0}\right\rangle \cdot \left\langle{1},{-1}\right\rangle = 0##, what point ##(x,y)## have you found where ##\nabla f(x,y) = \langle 0,0\rangle##?
 
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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