DIRECTIONAL DERIVATIVES

Dr. Richard Owusu

KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

(KNUST)

July 15, 2022

DIRECTIONAL DERIVATIVE AND GRADIENT

Definition
A vector field F~ in R2 is an assignment of a two-dimensional vector F~ (x, y ) to each
point (x, y ) of a subset D of R2 . The subset D is the domain of the vector field.

A vector field F~ in R3 is an assignment of a three-dimensional vector F~ (x, y , z) to each

point (x, y , z) of a subset D of R3 . The subset D is the domain of the vector field.

A vector field in R2 can be represented in either of two equivalent ways. The first way
is to use a vector with components that are two-variable functions:

F~ (x, y ) = hP(x, y ), Q(x, y )i

The second way is to use the standard unit vectors:

F~ (x, y ) = P(x, y ) î + Q(x, y ) ĵ.

DIRECTIONAL DERIVATIVE AND GRADIENT

Here î is a vector of unit magnitude pointing in the positive x-direction, and ĵ is a

vector of unit magnitude in the positive y-direction. Their specific in the Cartesian
coordinates are î = (1, 0) and ŷ = (0, 1). Again P(x, y )î is a vector with magnitude
equal to |P(x, y )| and in the x-direction.

For R3 the unit vectors are denoted by î, ĵ, k̂ or x̂, ŷ, ẑ. Their specific in the Cartesian
coordinates are x̂ = (1, 0, 0), ŷ = (0, 1, 0) and ẑ = (0, 0, 1)

A vector field is said to be continuous if its component functions are continuous.

Similarly
F~ (x, y , z) = hP(x, y , z), Q(x, y , z), R(x, y , z)i
Example

Example
Sketch the following vector field.

F~ (x, y ) = −y ~i + x ~j

Solution Okay, to graph the vector field we need to get some “values” of the function.
This means plugging in some points into the function. Here are a couple of evaluations.
   
~ 1 1 1~ 1~ ~ 1 1 1 1
F , = − i + j, F ,− = ~i + ~j
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
   
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
F~ − , = − ~i − ~j, F~ − , − = ~i − ~j
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Solution Cont
 
1 1 1 1
The first one tells us that at the point , we will plot the vector − ~i + ~j. We
2 2 2 2
can continue in this fashion plotting vectors for several points and we’ll get the
following sketch of the vector field.
Typical Example of Vector Field
If we want significantly more points plotted then it is usually best to use a computer
aided graphing system such as Maple, Mathematica or Matlab. This will result to
More on Sketching Vector Field

There are two types of vector fields in R2 : radial fields and rotational fields.

Radial fields model certain gravitational fields and energy source fields (Example is a
star source or sink). Rotational fields model the movement of a fluid in a vortex
(Example is a spiral source or sink). In a radial field, all vectors either point directly
toward or directly away from the origin.

Furthermore, the magnitude of any vector depends only on its distance from the origin.
In a radial field, the vector located at point (x, y ) is perpendicular to the circle
centered at the origin that contains point (x, y ), and all other vectors on this circle
have the same magnitude.
Radial and Rotational Field

Sink radial field Source rotational field

Solution
Example
x y
(Radial Vector Field) Sketch the vector field F~ (x, y ) = î + ĵ.
2 2
The following table gives a representative sample of points in a plane and the
corresponding vectors.
(x, y ) F~ (x, y)
 (x, y ) F~ (x, y ) (x, y ) F~ (x, y
 )
1 1 1
(1, 0) ,0 (2, 0) h1, 0i (1, 1) ,
2   2 2 
1 1 1
(0, 1) 0, (0, 2) h0, 1i (−1, 1) − ,
 2   2 2 
1 1 1
(−1, 0) − ,0 (−2, 0) h−1, 0i (−1, −1) − ,−
 2   2 2
1 1 1
(0, −1) 0, − (0, −2) h0, −1i (1, −1) ,−
2 2 2
Sketch of Radial Field
Solution

Example
(Rotational Vector Field) Sketch the vector field F~ (x, y ) = hy , −xi.

Below is a representative sample of points in a plane and their corresponding vectors.

(x, y ) F~ (x, y ) (x, y ) F~ (x, y ) (x, y ) F~ (x, y )
(1, 0) h0, −1i (2, 0) h0, −2i (1, 1) h1, −1i
(0, 1) h1, 0i (0, 2) h2, 0i (−1, 1) h1, 1i
(−1, 0) h0, 1i (−2, 0) h0, 2i (−1, −1) h−1, 1i
(0, −1) h−1, 0i (0, −2) h−2, 0i (1, −1) h−1, −1i
Sketch of Rotational Field
Gradient Vector Field

Definition
Given a function f (x, y , z), then the gradient vector is defined by,

∇f = hfx , fy , fz i = fx (x, y , z)î + fy (x, y , z)ĵ + fz (x, y , z)k̂

In these cases the function f (x, y , z) is often called a scalar function to differentiate it
from the vector field F~ (x, y , z).
Example

Example
Find the gradient vector field of the following functions.
1 f (x, y ) = x 2 sin(5y )
2 f (x, y , z) = ze −xy

Solution
Example

Example
Find the gradient vector field of the following functions.
1 f (x, y ) = x 2 sin(5y )
2 f (x, y , z) = ze −xy

Solution
1 ∇f = 2x sin(5y ), 5x 2 cos(5y )
2 ∇f = h−yze −xy , −xze −xy , e −xy i
Conservative Fields

Definition
A vector field F~ in R2 or in R3 is called a conservative vector field if there exists a
function f such that ∇f = F~ .

That is a vector field is conservative if it is also a gradient vector field for some
function.

If F~ is a conservative vector field then the function, f , is called a potential function for
F~ .

For instance the vector field F~ = y ~i + x ~j is a conservative vector field with a potential
function of f (x, y ) = xy because ∇F = hy , xi.
On the other hand, F~ = −y ~i + x ~j is not a conservative vector field since there is no
function f such that ∇f = F~
Curl and Divergence

With the final one we gave both the vector form of the equation as well as the
parametric form and if we need the two-dimensional version then we just drop the z
components.
Let define the del ∇ operator as
∂~ ∂ ~ ∂ ~
∇= i+ j+ k (1)
∂x ∂y ∂z
Whatever function that is listed after the ∇ is substituted into the partial derivatives.
Example
∂f ~ ∂f ~ ∂f ~
∇f = i+ j+ k (2)
∂x ∂y ∂z
Using the ∇ operator, we define the curl over the vector field F~ = P~i + Q~j + R ~k as
the following cross product:
 ~i ~j ~k

∂ ∂ ∂
curlF~ = ∇ × F~ = (3)
∂x ∂y ∂z

P Q R
= (Ry − Qz )~i − (Rx − Pz )~j + (Qx − Py )~k (4)
Similarly, divergence can be defined in terms of the following dot product.

∂P ∂Q ∂R
divF~ = ∇ • F~ = + + (5)
∂x ∂y ∂z
The following is true about the relationship between curl and divergence.

div(curlF~ ) = 0 (6)
Example

Example

Compute divF~ for x 2 y ~i + xyz ~j − x 2 y 2 ~k

Solution

∂ 2 ∂ ∂
div F~ = (x y ) + (xyz) + (−x 2 y 2 )
∂x ∂y ∂z
= 2xy + xz

Example

Given the vector field F~ = yz 2~i + xy ~j + yz ~k, verify that div(curlF~ ) = 0.

Solution

~i ~j ~k

∂ ∂ ∂
curlF~ = ∇ × F~ =
∂x ∂y ∂z

yz 2 xy yz
= (Ry − Qz )~i − (Rx − Pz )~j + (Qx − Py )~k
= (z − 0)~i − (0 − 2yz)~j + (y − z 2 )~k
= z~i + 2xy ~j + (y − z 2 )~k (7)
Solution Cont..

Now we compute the divergence of equation (7)

∂ ∂ ∂
div F~ = (z) + (2yz) + (y − z 2 )
∂x ∂y ∂z
= 2z − 2z
=0
Exercise

1 Find div F for each of the following vector fields:

1 F = hxy , yz, xzi
2 F = hyz, xz, xy i p
3 F = hxr , yr , zr i where r = x 2 + y 2 + z 2
2 Find curl F for each of the following vector fields:
1 F = hxy , yz, xzi
2 F = hyz, xz, xy i p
3 F = hxr , yr , zr i where r = x 2 + y 2 + z 2
END OF LECTURE
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