Lecture

in
Mathematic (III)
Partial Derivative

The Concept of Partial Derivatives

The partial derivative of the function f ( x , y ) with respect to the x given by
z f ( x  h, y )  f ( x , y )
 lim
x h0 h
The partial derivative of z  f ( x , y ) with respect to y can be written as any of the
following:
z f ( x, y  k )  f ( x, y)
 lim
x k 0 k
Note the use of the Greek symbol . In the context of partial differentiation this is
used to denote a partial derivative rather than the symbol d .

This could be illustrated by reference to an example.

Example (1)
Find the partial derivatives for the function
Solution:
z  5x 3  3xy  4 y 2
z z
 15x 2  3 y ,  3x  8 y
x y

Example (2):
w w w
Given w  x 2 y 3 sin z  e xz find , and .
x y z
Solution:
w
Regard y and z asconstant  2 xy 3 sin z  ze xz
x
w
Regard x and z asconstant  3 x 2 y 2 sin z
y
w
Regard x and y asconstant  x 2 y 2 cos z  xe xz
z
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Second partial derivatives:
If z  f ( x , y ) is a function of two variables x and y , then f x and f y are also
function of the same two variables x and y , and we may consider their first partial
derivatives . These are called the second partial derivatives of f ( x , y ) and are
denoted as follows:
   f   2 f
f      f x   f xx
x x x  x  x 2 x

   f   2 f
f      f x   f xy
 y x  y   x   y x y

   f   2 f
f  
x y x  y  xy
 f y  f yx
x
 
   f   2 f
f  
y y y  y  y 2
 f y  f yy
y
 
Example (3):
Find the second partial derivatives of f if f ( x, y)  x 3 y 2  2 x 2 y  3 x
Solution:
f f
f x ( x, y)   3 x 2 y 2  4 xy  3 and f y ( x , y )   2 x 3 y  2 x 2 hence the second
x y
partial derivatives are
  f  
f xx ( x , y )     (3 x 2 y 2  4 xy  3)  6 xy 2  4 y
x  x  x
  f  
f xy ( x , y )     (3 x 2 y 2  4 xy  3)  6 xy 2  4 x
y  x  y
  f  
f yx ( x , y )     (2 x 3 y  2 x 2 )  6 x 2 y  4 x
x  y  x
  f  
f yy ( x , y )     (2 x 3 y  2 x 2 )  2 x 3
y  y  y

Exercise (2.1)

Find the first and the second partial derivative of f where

(1) f ( x , y )  2x 4 y 3  xy 2  3 y  1 (2) f ( x , y )  ( x 3  y 2 )5
(3) f ( x , y )  x 2  y 2 (4) f ( x , y )  xe y  y sin x
y y
(5) f ( x , y )  ln( x 2  xy  y 2 ) (6) f ( x , y )  x cos  y sin
x x
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x2 y
(7) f ( x , y )  (8) f ( x , y )  sin 1
xy x
y
(9) f ( x , y , z )  x 2  y 2  z 2 (10) f ( x , y )  tan 1
x
2 f 2 f
A function f ( x , y ) is harmonic if   0 prove that the following
x 2 y 2
function is harmonic
(11) f ( x , y )  ln x 2  y 2
y
(12) f ( x , y )  tan 1
x
(13) f ( x , y )  cos x sinh y  sin x cosh y

 2w  2w
(14) if w  cos( x  y )  ln( x  y ) show that  0
x 2 y 2
 2v 2 v
2
(15) show that v satisfies the wave equation 2  a
t x 2
( i ) v  sin akt sin kx ( ii ) v  ( x  at )4  cos( x  at )
(16) show that the functions u and v satisfy the
u v u v
Cauchy-riemann equations  and 
x y y x
( i ) u( x , y )  x 2  y 2 , v ( x , y )  2 xy
y x
( ii ) u( x , y )  , v( x, y ) 
x2  y2 x2  y2
( iii ) u( x , y )  e x cos y , v ( x , y )  e x sin y

Chain rule
Theorem (1)
If w  f ( u, v ) with u  g( x , y ), v  h( x , y ) and if f , g and h are differentiable,
then
w w u w v w w u w v
  and  
x u x v x y u y v y

we can apply the chain rules to composite functions of any numbers of variables and
we have the following cases
(1) Suppose that w is a function of u, v and r and that u, v and r are functions of
x and y then

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w w u w v w r w w u w v w r
   and   
x u x v x r x y u y v y r y
(2) Suppose that w is a function of u, v and that u, v are functions of x , y and z then
w w u w v w w u w v
  ,  
x u x v x y u y v y
w w u w v
  ,
z u z v z

(3) Suppose that w is a function of u, v and r and that u, v and r are functions of
x , y and z then
w w u w v w r w w u w v w r
   ,   
x u x v x r x y u y v y r y
w w u w v w r
  
z u z v z r z

(4) Suppose that w is a function of u, v and that u, v are functions of x only then
dw w u w v
 
dx u x v x

Exercise (2.2)
w w
Use the chain rule find and
x y
(1) w  u sin v , u  x 2  y 2 , v  xy
(2) w  uv  v 2 , u  x sin y , v  y sin x
w w
Use the chain rule find and
r s
(3) w  u  2uv , u  r ln s, v  2r  s
2

(4) w  e tv , t  r  s , v  rs
(5) If w  f ( x , y ) and x  r cos , y  r sin
2 2 2 2
 w   w   w  1  w 
show that        2 
 x   y   r  r    
(6) If w  f ( x  at )  g ( x  at ) where f and g have second partial derivatives,
 2w 2 w
2
show that w satisfies the waveequation a
t 2 x 2
(7) If w  cos( x  y )  sin( x  y ) show that w xx  w yy  0

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