Electric Potential in a region of space

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quietriot1006
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Homework Statement


The electric potential in a region of space is
render?texml=V+%3D+%5Cfrac%7B350%7D%7B%5Csqrt+%7Bx%5E2+%2B+y%5E2+%7D%7D.gif

, where x and y are in meters. What is the strength of the electric field at (x,y)=(2.1m,2.7m)?
The electric force is in V/m.

Homework Equations


E = -grad(V)
E = -dV/ds

The Attempt at a Solution



I know that i have to find the partial derivatives of the x and the y but I am not sure on how to get the answer from the equation given. I was thinking of making the square root into the exponential of 1/2 and then raising that to -1 to get ride of the fraction and then taking the derivatives of that but i keep getting the wrong answer. Anybody have suggestions of help they can give me please. Thanks.
 
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quietriot1006 said:
render?texml=V+%3D+%5Cfrac%7B350%7D%7B%5Csqrt+%7Bx%5E2+%2B+y%5E2+%7D%7D.gif

…I know that i have to find the partial derivatives of the x and the y but I am not sure on how to get the answer from the equation given. I was thinking of making the square root into the exponential of 1/2 and then raising that to -1 to get ride of the fraction and then taking the derivatives of that but i keep getting the wrong answer. Anybody have suggestions of help they can give me please. Thanks.

Hi quietriot1006! Welcome to PF! :smile:

(btw, please use the LaTeX provided, rather than importing images of equations)

Just use the Chain Rule for differentiation …

you know how to differentiate 1/√x, don't you? :wink:
 
Thanks for the welcome. I am still not getting the answer. Maybe I am doing the chain rule incorrectly. What would i use for u or g(x) and h(x)?
 
quietriot1006 said:
Thanks for the welcome. I am still not getting the answer. Maybe I am doing the chain rule incorrectly. What would i use for u or g(x) and h(x)?

(x2 + y2) :smile:
 
I keep getting the same asnwer, -127 V/M and its not the right answer. What else can i do?
 
quietriot1006 said:
I keep getting the same asnwer, -127 V/M and its not the right answer. What else can i do?

Show us your calculations, and then we can see where the mistake is. :smile: