Calculus 3 : Applications of Partial Derivatives

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Calculus 3

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Example Questions

Example Question #3 : Gradient Vector, Tangent Planes, And Normal Lines

Find the slope of the function  at the point 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To consider finding the slope, let's discuss the topic of the gradient.

For a function , the gradient is the sum of the derivatives with respect to each variable, multiplied by a directional vector:

It is essentially the slope of a multi-dimensional function at any given point.

The approach to take with this problem is to simply take the derivatives one at a time. When deriving for one particular variable, treat the other variables as constant.

Looking at  at the point 

x:

y:

z:

 

Example Question #3 : Gradient Vector, Tangent Planes, And Normal Lines

Find the slope of the function  at the point 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To consider finding the slope, let's discuss the topic of the gradient.

For a function , the gradient is the sum of the derivatives with respect to each variable, multiplied by a directional vector:

It is essentially the slope of a multi-dimensional function at any given point.

The approach to take with this problem is to simply take the derivatives one at a time. When deriving for one particular variable, treat the other variables as constant.

Looking at  at the point 

x:

y:

z:

 

Example Question #1 : Gradient Vector, Tangent Planes, And Normal Lines

Find the slope of the function  at the point 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To consider finding the slope, let's discuss the topic of the gradient.

For a function , the gradient is the sum of the derivatives with respect to each variable, multiplied by a directional vector:

It is essentially the slope of a multi-dimensional function at any given point.

The approach to take with this problem is to simply take the derivatives one at a time. When deriving for one particular variable, treat the other variables as constant.

Looking at  at the point 

x:

y:

Example Question #5 : Gradient Vector, Tangent Planes, And Normal Lines

Find the slope of the function  at the point 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To consider finding the slope, let's discuss the topic of the gradient.

For a function , the gradient is the sum of the derivatives with respect to each variable, multiplied by a directional vector:

It is essentially the slope of a multi-dimensional function at any given point.

The approach to take with this problem is to simply take the derivatives one at a time. When deriving for one particular variable, treat the other variables as constant.

Looking at  at the point 

x:

y:

Example Question #1 : Gradient Vector, Tangent Planes, And Normal Lines

Find the slope of the function  at the point 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To consider finding the slope, let's discuss the topic of the gradient.

For a function , the gradient is the sum of the derivatives with respect to each variable, multiplied by a directional vector:

It is essentially the slope of a multi-dimensional function at any given point.

The approach to take with this problem is to simply take the derivatives one at a time. When deriving for one particular variable, treat the other variables as constant.

Looking at  at the point 

x: 

y:

Example Question #31 : Applications Of Partial Derivatives

Find the slope of the function  at the point 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To consider finding the slope, let's discuss the topic of the gradient.

For a function , the gradient is the sum of the derivatives with respect to each variable, multiplied by a directional vector:

It is essentially the slope of a multi-dimensional function at any given point.

The approach to take with this problem is to simply take the derivatives one at a time. When deriving for one particular variable, treat the other variables as constant.

Looking at  at the point 

x:

y:

Example Question #11 : Gradient Vector, Tangent Planes, And Normal Lines

Find the slope of the function  at the point 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To consider finding the slope, let's discuss the topic of the gradient.

For a function , the gradient is the sum of the derivatives with respect to each variable, multiplied by a directional vector:

It is essentially the slope of a multi-dimensional function at any given point.

Knowledge of the following derivative rules will be necessary:

Trigonometric derivative: 

Note that u may represent large functions, and not just individual variables!

The approach to take with this problem is to simply take the derivatives one at a time. When deriving for one particular variable, treat the other variables as constant.

Looking at  at the point 

x:

y:

Example Question #1571 : Calculus 3

Find the slope of the function  at the point 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To consider finding the slope, let's discuss the topic of the gradient.

For a function , the gradient is the sum of the derivatives with respect to each variable, multiplied by a directional vector:

It is essentially the slope of a multi-dimensional function at any given point.

Knowledge of the following derivative rules will be necessary:

Trigonometric derivative: 

Note that u may represent large functions, and not just individual variables!

The approach to take with this problem is to simply take the derivatives one at a time. When deriving for one particular variable, treat the other variables as constant.

Looking at  at the point 

x:

y:

Example Question #13 : Gradient Vector, Tangent Planes, And Normal Lines

Find the equation of the tangent plane to  at .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The definition of a tangent plane of a surface  is given by 

.

Therefore, we need to first find , given below as

Noting that 

,

we can write our complete expression for the tangent line as

.

Example Question #15 : Gradient Vector, Tangent Planes, And Normal Lines

Calculate  if  and 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

By definition .  Therefore, 

, so we will need to find the partial derivatives of , shown below as

Therefore, 

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