Chapter
Partial Differentiation
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INTRODUCTION
Real world can be described in mathematical terms
using parametric equations and functions such as
trigonometric functions which describe cyclic, repet-
itive activity; exponential, logarithmic and logistic
functions which describe growth and decay and poly-
nomial functions which approximate these and most
other functions. The problemsin operations research,
computer science, probability, statistics, fluid dy-
namics, economics, electricity ete. deal with func-
tions of two or more independent variables. In this
chapter we study the limit, continuity, partial deriva-
tive of such functions, Euler’s theorem, Jacobians
which determine the functional dependence and de-
termination of errors and approximations of caleula-
tions.
3.1. FUNCTIONS OF SEVERAL
VARIABLES: LIMIT AND CONTINUITY
The area of an ellipse is ab. It depends on two vari-
ables a and b: The total surface area of a rectangular
parallelopiped is 2(xy + yz + zx) and it depends on
3 variables x, y, 2; The velocity u of a fluid particle
moving in space depends on 4 variables x,y, 2. t.
In transportation problem in operations research the
ost function to be minimized isa function of several
(mn: running into hundreds) variables (where m is
the number of origins and 1 is the number of desti-
nations), Thus functions of several variables plays a
vital role in advanced Mathematics.
{fu = f(x, y,z,2)then x, y, 2. rare known ay the
independent variables or arguments and w is known
asthe “dependent variable’ or ‘value’ of the function,
In this section, we restrict to functions of wo and
three variables, although the analysis can easily be
extended to several variables,
Function of Two Variables
If for every x and y a unique value f(x, y) is as-
sociated, then f is said to be a function of the two
independent variables x and y and is denoted by
z= firy) a)
Geometrically, in three dimensional xy2-coordi-
nate space (1) represents a surface, The values of x
and y for which the function is defined is known as
the domain of definition of the function:
Example: z= Ja? — x2 —
domain: x? + y
Function not defined when x? + y? > a?
Example: <=.’ + y'
domain: x>0 and y > 0
S-neighbourhood of a point (a,b) in the xy
is a square with centre at (a, b) bounded by the four
lines x =a ~8,e=a+6,y=b-3, y=b +i.
a-s