Finding Tangent Plane and Normal Line Equations for a Given Surface

  • Thread starter Thread starter ktobrien
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Plane Tangent
ktobrien
Messages
27
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


Find equations of the following.

x2-2y2+z2+yz=7, (5,3,-3)
(a) the tangent plane
(b) the normal line to the given surface at the point

Homework Equations



I know it involves fx, fy, fz

The Attempt at a Solution


I got 10x-15y-3z=7. Is this correct? Because its not true at the point (5,3,-3).

I got it by f(5,3,-3)+fx(5,3,-3)(x-5)+fy(5,3,-3)(y-3)+fz(5,3,-3)(z+3)

As for the normal line I know the answers are
x=10t+5
y=-15+3
z=-3-3
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
ktobrien said:

Homework Statement


Find equations of the following.

x2-2y2+z2+yz=7, (5,3,-3)
(a) the tangent plane
(b) the normal line to the given surface at the point

Homework Equations



I know it involves fx, fy, fz

The Attempt at a Solution


I got 10x-15y-3z=7. Is this correct? Because its not true at the point (5,3,-3).
No. The point (5, 3 -3) has to satisfy both the equation of the plane and the equation of the surface.
ktobrien said:
I got it by f(5,3,-3)+fx(5,3,-3)(x-5)+fy(5,3,-3)(y-3)+fz(5,3,-3)(z+3)
For one thing, this is not an equation, so there's no way to get an equation out of it. For another thing, if my memory is correct, the equation of the tangent plane is fx(5, 3, -3)(x - 5) + fy(5, 3, -3)(y - 3) + fz(5, 3, -3)(z - (-3)) = 0.

You didn't show the partial derivatives that you calculated, so it might also be that you have an error in one or more of them.

ktobrien said:
As for the normal line I know the answers are
x=10t+5
y=-15+3
z=-3-3
 
Ive got it now. I used the linear approximation and set it = to 0. I just had to take out the f(5,3,-3). I figured it was something stupid like that. Thanks for the help though.
 
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...
Back
Top