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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surface area cut out by two cylinders

Find the area cut out of the cylinder $x^2+z^2=1$ by the cylinder $x^2+y^2=1$. The problem for me apart from visualisation is the symmetry. Since by equating both the equations the conclusion will be $z^2=y^2$. Since I cann't parametrize by…
tattwamasi amrutam
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Finding critical points of multivariable function

Find the critical points of $f(x,y)=x^y+4xy-y^2-8x-6y$ I found the derivative of the function and got $$f^\prime_x=yx^{y-1}+4y-8 \\ f^\prime_y=\ln x\, x^y+4x-2y-6 $$. I want to find point $(x_0,y_0)$ s.t…
user65985
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Existence of $G$ for $\nabla \times G=F$?

What are the necessary and sufficient conditions on functions $h,k:{\Bbb R}^2\to{\Bbb R}$ such that given any smooth $F:{\Bbb R^3}\to{\Bbb R}^3$ of the form $F=(F_1(y,z),F_2(x,z),0)$ and whose divergence is zero, there is a smooth $G:{\Bbb…
user9464
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Exercise with application of inverse function theorem

Let $F:\mathbb R^2 \to \mathbb R^2$ be a function of class $C^1$ such that $F(3t^3+2,e^{t^2})=(3,6)$ for all $t \in \mathbb R$. Prove that $DF(2,1)$ is not invertible. ($DF(2,1)$ is the jacobian matrix) My attempt at a solution: I've tried to solve…
user100106
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Normal vector for a surface: explicit vs implicit formula

If I have the surface of a hemisphere $S : x^2 + y^2 + z^2 = 4; z\geq 0$, then using the gradient to calculate the unit normal vector yields $\hat n = <\frac{x}{2}, \frac{y}{2}, \frac{z}{2}>$. But my textbook uses the explicit formula of the…
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Differentiating the Spherical Mean w.r.t its radius

this question regards differentiating the spherical mean with respect to its radius. This is my attempt so far: Start with the equivalent form of the spherical mean so that we can pass the partial derivative into the integrand: $$S(v,x,r) = {1 \over…
BBaire
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Vector calculus and divergence theorem properties

I cannot seem to figure out why the following is true: $\partial \over \partial r$ $\int_{B(x,r)}\triangle v(z) dz =$ $\int_{\partial B(x,r)}\triangle v(y) do(y)$ I attempted to apply divergence theorem to the LHS, but here's where I get stuck and…
BBaire
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Vector Calculus (Gradients, Potential Functions, and Equipotential Curves)

This is my first question on the Mathematics section of StackExchange, so please forgive me if I don't follow all the rules or things like that. Here's my question: Consider the following potential function and graph of its equipotential curves:…
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Lagrange Multipliers, two constraints.

Question: . Use Lagrange multipliers to find the constrained critical points of f subject to the given constraints. Here is the equation and the here is my solution. I am stuck now and I don't know how to proceed. I got a couple of restrictions but…
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Equation for tangent plane

The function is as follows: $$\begin{bmatrix}u \\ v \end{bmatrix}= f(x,y,z)= \begin{bmatrix}e^{x-y}+y \\ \sin(x^2-z) \end{bmatrix}$$ and I need to obtain the equation of the tangent plane. The equations I got are $u=x+1$ and $v=2x-z-1$. The answer I…
Artemisia
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Minimum area of the parallelepiped surface

Among all the retangular parallelpipeds of volume $V$, find one whose total surface área is minimum Using the Lagrange Multipliers method, I've found that it is a cube with dimensions $ \sqrt[3]{V} $. But I don't know how to prove that it is,…
Giiovanna
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Differential and partial derivates

Can you help with the following question? Let $f: \mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{R}$ be a function with continuous derivatives. It is given that $f\left(\dfrac{\cos(t)}{t},\dfrac{\sin(t)}{t}\right)$ is growing for $t > 0$. Proof that $Df(0,0)=(0,0)$. …
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Multivariable Mean Value Theorem With Equalities

I'm having a lot of trouble deciphering the notation in this proof of the mean value theorem in several variables. For example, on page 2 of this link we see an example of why the multivariable mean value equality fails & a claim that the best we…
bolbteppa
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Newton's method for multivariable function roots

I know how to do Newton's method to find roots for a single variable function but then I got this problem and I am unsure of how to find the roots for multivariate functions using Newton's method:
Raynos
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Differentiating function with large matrices

Let $f$ denote the function defined by $$f(x) = w_{pos} \sum_v \left[ \left(\sum_b d_{v,b} x_b - \theta_v \right)_+\right]^2 + w_{neg} \sum_v \left[ \left(\sum_b d_{v,b} x_b - \theta_v \right)_- \right]^2$$ I would like to find the gradient of…
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