HW 3 - Selected solutions

Please write neatly, and show all work. Caution: An answer with no
work is wrong!

Do the following problems from the book:

• §9.5: 5, 10, 15, 19, 23, 24, 25, 30, 37, 41

• §9.6: 1, 2, 5, 8, 12, 13, 20, 25, 32, 34

• §10.1: 4, 6, 8, 16, 20, 21, 25, 27, 37, 43

 
x
Problem A. Let f (x, y) = ln .
y
(1) Find the domain of f .
(2) Find the range of f .
(3) Draw the level curves f− ln 2 , and f0 , fln 2 .

Selected solutions from §9.5:

§9.5, 10. Find the line of intersection of the planes x + 2y + 3z = 1

and x − y + z = 1.

Solution. The normals of the two planes are h1, 2, 3i and h1, −1, 1i.
Since the desired line is orthogonal to both of these normals, its direc-
tion is given by

h1, 2, 3i×h1, −1, 1i = (2(1)+1(3))i−(1(1)−1(3))j+(1(−1)−1(2))k = h5, 2, −3i .

Since (1, 0, 0) is a point of intersection of the two planes, it follows

that the desired line is given by h1, 0, 0i + th5, 2, −3i. Parametrically,
we have x = 1 + 5t, y = 2t, z = −3t, while symmetrically we have
x−1
5
= y2 = − z3 .

§9.5, 24. Find an equation of the plane that contains the line x = 1+t,
y = 2 − t, z = 4 − 3t and is parallel to the plane 5x + 2y + z = 1.

1
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Solution. The plane has normal vector h5, 2, 1i, and contains the point
(1, 2, 4). Thus the equation of the plane is given by
0 = h5, 2, 1i · hx − 1, y − 2, z − 4i = 5x + 2y + z − 13 .

§9.5, 30. Find an equation of the plane that passes through the points
(0, −2, 5) and (−1, 3, 1) and is perpendicular to the plane 2z = 5x + 4y.

Solution. The desired plane contains the normal to 2z = 5x + 4y,

which is h5, 4, −2i. It also contains the vector from (0, −2, 5) to (−1, 3, 1),
i.e. h−1, 5, −4i. That means a normal vector is given by
h5, 4, −2i × h−1, 5, −4i = h−6, 22, 29i .
The plane also contains the point (0, −2, 5), so an equation for the
plane is
0 = h−6, 22, 29i · hx, y + 2, z − 5i = −6x + 22y + 29z − 101 .

Selected solutions from §9.6:

§9.6, 2. Let f (x, y) = y 4 ex/y . Evaluate f (0, 2) and find the domain
and range of f .

Solution. We have f (0, 2) = 24 e0/2 = 16. For the domain, in order to

do x/y, we need that y 6= 0. So the domain is
{(x, y) : y 6= 0} .
4 x/y
Since both y and e are always non-negative, no negative numbers
can be in the range. It is easy to see that any √
non-negative number is
in the range: For any a ≥ 0, let x = 0 and y = 4 a, so that f (x, y) = a.

§9.6, 8. Find the domain of the function f (x, y) = ln(x2 + y 2 − 2).

Solution. The domain of ln x is (0, ∞), so we are only able to make

sense of f if x2 + y 2 − 2 > 0, i.e. x2 + y 2 > 2. This describes
√ the outside
of a circle in the plane, centered at the origin, of radius 2. (Note that
the circle itself is not contained in the domain!)

§9.6, 32. Show that the curve of intersection of the surfaces x2 + 2y 2 −

z 2 + 3x = 1 and 2x2 + 4y 2 − 2z 2 − 5y = 0 lies in a plane.
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Solution. Subtracting the second equation from twice the first, we

find
2 = 2(x2 + 2y 2 − z 2 + 3x) − (2x2 + 4y 2 − 2z 2 − 5y) = 6x + 5y .
This means that for any points (x, y, z) satisfying both equations, we
must have 6x + 5y = 2. This latter equation defines a plane, so any
points on both surfaces (that is, in the intersection of the two surfaces)
lies in a plane.

§9.6, 34. Find an equation for the surface consisting of all points P
for which the distance from P to the x-axis is twice the distance from
P to the yz-plane.

Solution. Suppose (x, y, z)

p is such a point. The distance from (x, y, z)
to the x-axis is given by y 2 + z 2 , and the distance from (x, y, z) to
the yz-plane is given by |x|. Thus any such point P = (x, y, z) must
satisfy p
y 2 + z 2 = 2|x| .
Squaring both sides, we find 4x2 = y 2 + z 2 . Referring to the chart on
page 679, we can see that this defines a cone.