M1120 Calculus (III) Lecture
M1120 Calculus (III) Lecture
M1120 Calculus (III) Lecture
We have seen that functions of one variable are useful in practice but (of course) there
are many real world relationships that are more complicated and can't be well modelled by
these functions.
Example 1: Suppose that we have a thin metal plate and that we are interested in the
temperature T on this plate. In general the temperature will vary from point to point. If
we imagine a coordinate grid on the plate then points on the plate can be identified by
their coordinates x, y . Thus T will depend on two independent variables, x and y.
Thus we would write
T x, y
and say that T is a function of two variables.
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A (real valued) function f of two variables is a rule that assigns to each ordered pair of
real numbers x, y in a set D a unique (real) number denoted by f x, y .
Thus,
sin(t 1)
g ( s, t ) , h( x, y) ( x y)2 e( x y ) 6
s t
2 2
The set D is called the domain of the function. Unless specified otherwise, we take D to
be the largest possible set of ordered pairs for which we can calculate f. The range of f is the
associated set of values that f takes on.
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Calculus (III) - Lecture Notes
(a) Since the argument of the log function has to be positive, the domain D is the set
of points in the plane satisfying
D ( x, y) : y x 1
(b) f (3,1) ln(3 1 1) ln(1) 0
f ( 12 , 5) ln( 12 5 1) ln( 5 12 ) 0.5516 (to 4 d.p.)
Since (1,3) is not in the domain of f, f (1,3) is not defined
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Example 3: Consider the function f ( x, y) y xy .
(a) Find the domain of f
(b) Find f (3,1) , f ( 12 , 5) and f (1,3)
2
(a) Since we can calculate f for all values of x and y the domain of f is .
(b) f (3,1) 1 3 1 2
1 5
f ( 12 , 5) 5 5
2 2
f (1,3) 3 1 3 0
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The graph of a function of two variables is a surface in 3 which passes the vertical
line test. In general it is hard to draw the graph of a function of two variables by hand and so
usually we get a computer to do it. The following plots have been done using the specialist
mathematical software Maple but Wolfram Alpha will produce such plots too.
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Math1120 - Mathematics II
Example 5: Produce the graph of the function f ( x, y) x(3 y 2)(5 x 2)e( x y 2 )/5
2
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( x2 y 2 )
Example 6: Produce the graph of the function f ( x, y) x y e
2 2
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3
Not all surfaces in represent the graph of a function of two variables.
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Calculus (III) - Lecture Notes
Example Tasks
sin( y )
ET 1: Determine the domain of the function f ( x, y ) .
xy 1
§2 Level Curves
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Math1120 - Mathematics II
The level curves of a function z f x, y are curves in the xy-plane on which the
function has the same value, i.e. on which z k , where k is some constant.
Note:
1. Each point in the domain of the function lies on exactly one level curve.
2. When a collection of level curves for a function are drawn on the same plane it is
sometimes called a contour plot.
3. We can also think of level curves as the intersection of the surface and the
horizontal plane z k .
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Calculus (III) - Lecture Notes
Example 8: Draw the level curves associated with k 2, 1,0,1, 2 for the function
z xy .
The level curves of a function satisfy the equation z k . So for this function the level
curves are:
k
xy k , or y
x
Thus the level curves are rectangular hyperbolae (except for k 0 ). The level curves
for k 2, 1,0,1, 2 are shown in following diagram.
The contours (i.e. level curves) of a function satisfy the equation z k . So for this
function the level curves are:
x2 y 2 k ,
that is, circles centred on the origin and whose radius is k.
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Math1120 - Mathematics II
Notice that there are no level curves when k 0 . This tells us that the surface does not
go below the xy-plane.
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Example Tasks
ET 1: Draw the level curves associated with k 2, 1,0,1, 2 for the function
z 2x x2 y .
ET 2: Make a rough sketch of the contour map (centred on the origin) for the function
whose graph is:
ET 3*: Make a rough sketch of the contour map (centred on the origin) for the function
whose graph is:
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Calculus (III) - Lecture Notes
§3 Surfaces of Revolution
The surface associated with the graph of f ( x, y) x 2 y 2 e( x y ) (see the example
2 2
3
A surface of revolution is a surface in obtained by rotating a curve about an axis.
Example 10: Determine the equation of the surface obtained by rotating the curve in the
xz-plane z 2 3x , x 0 about the z-axis.
Let the equation of the surface be z f ( x, y) . Then the equation of the level curves of
the surface will be
f ( x, y) k (1)
Now, note that the cross-sections of the surface of revolution perpendicular to the z-axis
(i.e. the level curves) will be circles. For example the cross section at z k will be a
2k
circle with centre 0, 0 and radius and hence has equation
3
2k
2
x2 y 2 .
3
On re-arranging this equation we obtain
k 2 3 x2 y 2 .
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Math1120 - Mathematics II
2
f ( x, y) 4 x2 y 2
this surface can be obtained by rotating the curve in the xz-plane
z 4 x2 , x 0
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Example Tasks
ET 1: Determine the equation of the surface obtained by rotating the curve z 4 x 2 ,
x 0 about the z-axis. Make a sketch of the surface.
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Calculus (III) - Lecture Notes
Although we won’t do much with them in this course it is possible to define (real
valued) functions in n variables where n is any natural number, that is functions of the form
f: n .
Example 13: The function f ( x, y, z ) x 2 y 2 z 2 is a function of the form f : 3 .
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w
Example 14: The function f ( w, x, y, z ) 2wx 2 yz is a function of the form
( x z)
f: 4
.
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