Questions tagged [multivariable-calculus]

Use this tag for questions about differential and integral calculus with more than one independent variable. Some related tags are (differential-geometry), (real-analysis), and (differential-equations).

Multivariable functions are functions like $f(x,y)=xy^2$, functions that have two or more inputs but still only one output.

There exist multivariable limits, where $x$ and $y$ approach a value instead of just $x$.

In multivariable calculus, when writing $\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}x} \ f(x,y)$, one does not assume $y$ to be a constant, instead it is assumed that $y$ is a function of $x$.

To indicate that $y$ is a constant, one should use $\frac{\partial}{\partial x} f(x,y)$. These are called partial derivatives.

One also has integrals of multivariable functions. We say that we integrate over a surface in case of a two-variable function. We write this as $$\iint_S f(x,y)$$

If the surface is a rectangle $S: [a,b] \times [c,d]$, and the function is continuous on this rectangle, then Fubini's theorem says that $$\iint_S f(x,y) = \int^b_a\int^d_c f(x,y) \mathrm{d}y \mathrm{d}x$$

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Closest distance from point to surface is normal proof

If I have a point and a surface, the vector for the closest distance between the point and the surface will be normal to the surface: Intuitively it makes sense. If we assume the contrary (that the closest distance vector is not normal to the…
QCD_IS_GOOD
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Multiple Integration using polar coordinates

I am having some problem with caluculating areas using double integrals in polar coordinates. The question is : Calculate the total area of the rose $ r = 5 \sin(2 \theta)$ using double integration in polar coordinates? I took the limits of theta…
johny
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Is the vector $(2,2)$ perpendicular to the level curve 2 of $f(x,y)=4-x^{2}-y^{2}$?

Problem: If $f(x,y)=4-x^{2}-y^{2}$, then the vector $(2,2)$ is orthogonal to the level curve 2 of $f(x,y)$ in the point $(1,1)$. Solution: $z=4-x^{2}-y^{2}$ $=\left \langle z=2 \right \rangle$ $2=4-x^{2}-y^{2}$ $=\left \langle \text{Subtract}\…
InfZero
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Change of variables problem: why not to take all possible regions to be integrated?

I was working out this example in Jon Rogawski multivariable calculus book: My question is: why didn't he take all possible regions that satisfy the conditions: $$1\le xy\le4,1\le y/x\le4$$ which include the region in the third quarter ?? Also, if…
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Prove that the line integral of a vector valued function does not depend on the particular path

Let C denote the path from $\alpha$ to $\beta$. If $\textbf{F}$ is a gradient vector, that is, there exists a differentiable function $f$ such that $$\nabla f=F,$$ then \begin{eqnarray*} \int_{C}\textbf{F}\; ds &=& \int_{\alpha}^{\beta}…
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How can I prove Stokes theorem using Green's formula?

$$ \int_{\partial \Omega} (u ~dx + v ~dy) = \iint_{\Omega} \left( \frac{\partial v}{\partial x} - \frac{\partial u}{\partial y} \right) ~dx ~dy $$ Then I want to prove that$$ \int_{\partial \Omega} w = \iint_{\Omega} ~dw, \;(w = u ~dx + v ~dy) $$…
Ann
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Brackets around gradients

I am told that when transforming coordinates $\nabla (f(Ax)) = A^T(\nabla f)(Ax)$, however I read both of these as "the gradient of f, where f is a function of Ax, where A is a matrix and x is a vector", with the second multiplied with $A^T$. This…
Ash
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Show that a function has bounded support

Definition in my book: A function $f:\mathbb{R}^n \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ has bounded support if there exists a closed interval $I$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$ such that $f(x)=0$ if $x \notin I$. Now I have to show that if $f$ and $g$ have bounded support (in…
Kenneth
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Parametrize a curve, Multivariable Calculus

I am stuck on what seems to be an easy exercise. We have $f(x,y) = x^2 + 4xy + y^2 \mbox{ for all } (x,y)$ in $\mathbb{R}^2.$ Now we are supposed to find a parametrization of the intersection curve between $f(x,y)$ and $z = x + 3y.$ I've been…
hamp
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Lagrange Method Optimization Problem with constraint

The problem is as follows: $$\min_{x,y} x + y$$ subject to $$xy = 0.25$$ My attempt: I used the method of Lagrange multipliers here setting $f(x,y) = x + y$ and $g(x,y) = xy - 0.25 = 0$ So we have $\nabla f = \lambda \nabla f$ $\implies 1 =…
patrickh
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Why being the discriminant $D<0$ guarantees that there is a saddle point in some direction?

I'm studying multi-variable calculus, and stopped at this theorem: I'm wondering why being the discriminant $D<0$ guarantees that there is a saddle point in some direction ?
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Prove $\lim_{(x,y)\rightarrow(0,0)} \sqrt{(x − y)} \ln |x + y| = 0$

I am asked to prove that the limit of this multivariable function is equal to zero. I used the squeeze theorem to say that the limit is greater than 0 and less than x+y, by taking the limit of those we get that it is between zero and zero thus…
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Implicit function whose domain is $\mathbb R^2$

Let $F(x, y, z)=z^3+3z+2x^4+y^2-x^2-2y$. I want to show that the equation $F(x, y, z)=0$ defines a $C^2$ function $z=f(x, y)$ whose domain is $\mathbb R^2$. By the implicit function theorem, it's easy to see that such an $f$ exists in a neighborhood…
user79594
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Shortest path between points on intersecting planes

I have two intersecting planes and two arbitrary points $\mathbf{p}_1$ and $ \mathbf{p}_2$, one on each plane. I would like to calculate the minimum distance of a path from one point to the other with the path constrained to the planes. This is my…
John
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Quotient of multivariable differentiable functions

Let $E$ be an open subset of $\mathbb{R}^n$ and $f,g:E\to \mathbb{R}^1$ be differentiable functions with $g\neq 0$ on $E$. How to prove that $\dfrac{f}{g}$ is also differentiable? I can't prove this rigorously. Can anyone show the full proof? I…
Raheem Najib
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