What does this symbol mean (partial derivatives)

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
3 replies · 3K views
Firepanda
Messages
425
Reaction score
0
Question : g(x,y) = x^3 - 3x^2 + 5xy - 7y^2

Verify that ∇g(0,0) = 0

I looked on wiki and it said the vector of partial derivatives, so my g(x,y) would become

∇g = (3x^2 - 6x + 5y, 5x -14y)

so what do i do from here? i don't see what its asking, do i plug x and y as 0 and show I get 0? Where do i plug them into?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Firepanda said:
so what do i do from here? i don't see what its asking, do i plug x and y as 0 and show I get 0? Where do i plug them into?
You plug them into the expression for ∇g. That's what ∇g(0,0) mean. What would you get then? Note that your final answer is a vector.
 
Defennder said:
You plug them into the expression for ∇g. That's what ∇g(0,0) mean. What would you get then? Note that your final answer is a vector.

so just a zero vector?
 
Yes, that's what you should get as the question said.