Partials
Partials
Partials
1
Example 1 Let f (x, y) = x3 sin(y) + y 2 . Then
∂f ∂f
= 3x2 sin(y) , = x3 cos(y) + 2y
∂x ∂y
∂
Note, in particular, ∂x (y 2 ) = 0 since y is being treated as a constant!!
Alternate notations would be
fx (x, y) = 3x2 sin(y) , fy (x, y) = x3 cos(y) + 2y
y
Example 2 Let f (x, y) = x2 +1
= y(x2 + 1)−1 . Then
∂f 2xy ∂f 1
=− 2 , = 2
∂x (x + 1)2 ∂y x +1
2
Example 3 Here’s an example using the chain rule: Let f (x, y) = e xy .
Then
∂f ∂u 2 ∂ ³ 2´ 2
= eu = exy · xy = y 2 exy
∂x ∂x ∂x
In a similar fashion
∂f ∂u 2 ∂ ³ 2´ 2
= eu = exy · xy = 2xyexy
∂y ∂y ∂y