Part 1 PARTIAL DERIVATIVES MAT 295

Chapter 5

Total
differentials
At the end of this chapter, students should be able to:
 Define total differential
 Apply total differential in words problem

5.1 Introduction

In chapter 5, the concepts of increments and differentials of a single variable

functions will be generalized to functions of two or more variables. Given a
function of a single variable y  f (x ) and a point (c, f (c )) on the curve, the
quantity

y  f ( x0  x )  f ( x0 )

is the change in y along the curve y  f (x ) produced by the change x in x

y
f(x0+∆x)
(c,f(c))
∆y

f(x0)

x
x0 x0+∆x
∆x
f(x)

Figure 5.1 Increment y in 2

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The differential of y was defined as

dy  f ' ( x ) dx

and represents the change in y along the tangent line at c produced by a change
in x.

5.2 Total Differential

Similar terminology is used for a function of two variables, z  f ( x, y ). That is,

x and y are the increments of x and y, and the increment of z is z .

Definition
If z  f ( x, y ) , the increment of z denoted as z is given by

z  f ( x  x, y  y )  f ( x, y )

Note that the increment z depends on x, y, x and y , and is equal to the

change in z as x changes by x and y changes by y . Precisely, the increment in
z refers to the actual change in z when x and/or y changes. To be exact, z
represents the change in the value of z when ( x, y ) changes from ( x, y ) to
( x  x, y  y ) .

z
f(x+x, y+y)
f(x,y)
x z
y

y
(x,y)
x
(x+x, y+y)
y
x

Figure 5.2: Increment z in 3

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Definition
If z  f ( x, y ) , the total differential of z denoted as dz and given by

dz  fx ( x, y )dx  fy ( x, y )dy

or equivalently,
z z
dz  dx  dy .
x y
This formula represents the estimated change in z.
z  dz
In other words, the estimated change in z may be evaluated by using partial
derivatives such that the total change in z (called total differential) is the
summation of the change in z due to the change in x (keeping y constant) and the
change in z due to the change in y (keeping x constant). The notations dz and
df can be used interchangeably since z  f ( x, y ) .

The above definition can be extended to a function of three or more variables. For

instance, given the function w  g( x, y, z) the differential in w denoted as dw is

given by,
dw  g x dx  g y dy  g zdz .

Steps : Total differential

 Identify the variables and partial derivatives

 Find partial differentiation
 Apply total differential

Example 1
Find the differential df given f ( x, y )  x cos y  y sin x .

Solution

 Identify the variables and partial derivatives

Variables : x and y
Partial derivatives: f x and fy

 Find partial differentiation

fx  cos y  y cos x

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fy   x sin y  sin x

 Apply total differential

df  fx dx  fy dy

 (cos y  y cos x )dx  (x sin y  sin x )dy

Example 2

Find the differential df given f ( x, y )  ln( xy )  x 2  y .

Solution

 Identify the variables and partial derivatives

Variables : x and y
Partial derivatives: f x and fy

 Find partial differentiation

1 1
fx   ( y )  2x   2x
xy x
1 1
fy   (x)  1   1
xy y
 Apply total differential
df  fx dx  fy dy

1  1 y 
   2x dx   dy
x   y 

Example 3

Find the increment and total differential of f ( x, y )  y 2  x 2 y .

Solution

Increment (actual change) in f:

f  f ( x  x, y  y )  f ( x, y )
 
f  y  y 2  x  x 2 y  y   y 2  x 2 y 
 
 y 2  2yy  ( y ) 2  x 2  2xx  ( x ) 2 y  y   y 2  x 2 y

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
f  y 2  2yy  ( y ) 2  x 2 y  2xyx  y ( x ) 2  x 2 y  2xxy  ( x ) 2 y 

 y 2  x 2y 

 2yy  ( y ) 2  2xyx  y ( x ) 2  x 2 y  2xxy  ( x ) 2 y 

 x  2xy  yx   y 2y  y  x 2  2xx  ( x ) 2 
Total differential (estimated change) in f:
f f
df  dx  dy
x y
fx  2xy

f y  2y  x 2


df   2xy dx  2y  x 2 dy 

Warm up exercise
Let w ( p, q )  p 2  q 2 .

(i) Find the increment (or actual change) in w if (p,q) changes to

p  p, q  q  .
(ii) Write the formula for estimating the change in w using partial derivatives.
(iii) If (p,q) changes from (3,4) to (3.04, 3.98).
a) Calculate w.
b) What is p and q
c) Calculate dw and compare your answer with the value w. What’s
your observation?

5.3 Applications
In measurement, the total differential is used in estimating ∆f of a function f based
on ∆x of the independent variable x and ∆y of the independent variable y such
that
f  fx ( x, y )x  fy ( x, y )y

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 Part 1 PARTIAL DERIVATIVES MAT 295

Steps : Total differential

 Identify the variables and partial derivatives

 Find partial differentiation
 Identify values of x, y, ∆x and ∆y (if any)
 Apply total differential

Example 4
Estimate by a differential the change in f if ( x, y ) changes from (32, 16) to
2
(35, 18) given that f ( x, y )  yx 5  x y .

Solution

 Identify the variables and partial derivatives

Variables : x and y
Partial derivatives: f x and fy

 Find partial differentiation

3
2
fx  yx 5  y
5
2
1 x
fy  x 5 
2 y

 Identify values of x, y, ∆x and ∆y (if any)

( x, y )  (32,16) and ( x  x, y  y )  (35,18)

(32,16)
x=3 zdz

(35, 18)
y=2

x  35  32  3 y  18  16  2

 Apply total differential

f  fx x  fy y

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 3   2 
2   1 x 
f   yx 5  y x   x 5  y
5   2 y 
   
Then substitute (32, 16) into the formula of total differential
 3   2 
2   1 (32) 
df   (16 )(32)  16 (3)   (32) 
5 5 ( 2)
5   2 16 
   

4 
 3  4   2( 4  4)
5 
2
 30
5
 30.4

Example 5

Use differential to estimate 27 3 1021

Solution

Step 1: Represent the problem into mathematical expression in the form of a

function

f ( x, y )  x 3 y

f (27,1021)  27  3 1021
Step 2: Find partial differentiation
3 y
fx ( x, y ) 
2 x

x
fy ( x, y ) 
33 y2

Step 3: Identify value of x, y, ∆x, and ∆y.

For x find the closest to 27:

x = 25; ∆x = 27 – 25 = 2

For 3 y the closest to 1021:

y = 1000; ∆y = 1021- 1000 = 21

5
10 fy (25,1000 ) 
fx (25,1000 )  3(100 )
10
1
1 
60

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 Part 1 PARTIAL DERIVATIVES MAT 295

Step 4: Apply total differential

df  fx dx  fy dy

 1 
 (1)(2)   (21)
 60 
 2.35

In this case, f (27,1021) changes to f (25,1000 ) or

f ( x  x, y  y )  f ( x, y )  f

f (27,1021)  f (25,1000 )  f

 f (25,1000 )  df ; f  df

 25  3 1000  2.35
 (50(10 )  2.35
 52.35

Example 6

Given that y  kw 4 , where k is a constant. Calculate the approximate

percentage in y if w is increased by 3% and  is decreased by 2.5%.

Solution
Given

y  kw 4

w  3% of w  0.03w

  2.5% of   0.025

y w  k 4

y   4kw 3

dy  y w w  y  

 k 4 (0.03w )  4kw3 ( 0.025)

 0.03kw 4  0.1kw 4

 kw 4 (0.03  0.1)

 0.07kw 4  0.07 y
Therefore y is decreased by 7%.

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 Part 1 PARTIAL DERIVATIVES MAT 295

Warm up exercise

Let f ( x, y )  x 4 y

(i) Find f x and fy .

(ii) Find ∆x and ∆y if the change in f is from (121, 16) to (125, 17),
(iii) Find f x and fy if x = 121 and y = 16.

(iv) Use the total differential to find the approximate value of 125 4 17 .

Exercise 5

Total Differential and its Application

1. Find the differential df is f ( x, y )  x  y lnx  y  .

2. Use the total differential to find the approximate value of 125 4 17 .

3. Use the differential to estimate the change in f ( x, y )  x 2 cos y from (2, 2)

to (2.1, 1.9).

4. Use the total differential to approximate the change in f ( x, y ) as ( x, y ) varies from

P to Q. Compare your estimate with the actual change in f ( x, y ) .

a) f ( x, y )  x 2  2xy  4x ; P(1, 2), Q(1.01, 2.04)

1 1
b) f ( x, y )  3
x y2; P(8, 9), Q(7.78, 9.03)

xy
c) f ( x, y )  ; P(-1, -2), Q(-1.02, -2.04)
xy

d) f ( x, y )  ln 1  xy ; P(0, 2), Q(-0.09, 1.98)

5. Use the differential to estimate the change in z  xy 2 from its value at (0.5, 1.0)
to its value at (0.503, 1,004). Compare the error in this estimate with the distance
between the points (0.5, 1.0) and (0.503, 1.004).

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1
2 2 2
6. The temperature T at point P( x, y ) is given by T  8(2x  3y ) . Use
differentials to approximate the temperature difference between the points (6, 2)
and (6.1, 2.2) correct to 4 decimal places.

7. Estimate the value of V(1.02,1.99) using differential if

V ( x, y )  2y 3  3x 4  6x 2y  3

8. Compute f and df for the following functions:

1
a) f ( x, y )  xy 2 given x  1, y  4, x  0.1, y  0.2

b) f ( x, y )  3x 2  2xy  y 2 , given x  2, y  5, x  0.01, y  0.05

9. If f ( x, y )  x 2  2y 4 , use total differential to estimate the change in f if ( x, y )

changes from (2,1) to (2.01, 0.99). Hence, use it to evaluate f(2.01, 0.99).

10. The dimensions of a cylindrical tin can, change from radius 3 cm and height 4 cm
to radius 2.9 cm and height 4.2 cm. Estimate the change in the volume.

2
11. Use total differential to estimate the change in f if f ( x, y )  y x 5  x y and ( x, y )

changes from 32,16 to 35,18 . Hence, estimate f(35,18).

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