13.

1: Functions of Several Variables

Examples:

1. Area of a rectangle of length x,

width y:

A(x, y) = xy

a function of two variables.

1
2. Volume of a box of length x,

width y, height z:

V (x, y, z) = xyz

a function of three variables.

3. Volume of a cone of radius r,

height h:

1 2
V (r, h) = πr h
3

a function of two variables.

2
Given a function z = f (x, y) of two

variables.

Domain:

The domain of f is a subset D of

the x, y-plane.

The domain of f will either be given

explicitly or implicitly, or by the con-

vention

D = {(x, y) | f (x, y) exists}

3
Examples:

1. Area of a rectangle of length x,

width y, 0 ≤ x ≤ 1, 0 ≤ y ≤ 2:

A(x, y) = xy

D = {(x, y) | 0 ≤ x ≤ 1, 0 ≤ y ≤ 2}

2. Area of a rectangle of length x,

width y: A(x, y) = xy

D = {(x, y) | 0 ≤ x < ∞, 0 ≤ y < ∞}

4
 q
3. f (x, y) = 1 − x2 − y 2

D = {(x, y) | x2 + y 2 ≤ 1}

The domain is the closed unit disk.

1
4. f (x, y) = q
1 − x2 − y 2

D = {(x, y) | x2 + y 2 < 1}

The domain is the open unit disk.

5
 1
5. f (x, y) =
x−y+2

D = {(x, y) | x − y + 2 6= 0}

6. f (x, y) = ln(x + y)

D = {(x, y) | x + y > 0}

6
Range:

The range R of f is the set of

real numbers z such that z = f (x, y)

where (x, y) ∈ D.

Examples:

1. f (x, y) = xy 2 + 1:

D = {(x, y) | 0 ≤ x ≤ 2, 1 ≤ y ≤ 4}

R = {z |1 ≤ z ≤ 33}
7
 1
2. z= q
1 − x2 − y 2

D = {(x, y) | x2 + y 2 < 1}

R = {z | 1 ≤ z < ∞}

8
Given a function w = F (x, y, z) of

three variables.

Domain:

The domain of F is a subset D of

the 3-space.

The domain of F will either be given

explicitly or implicitly, or by the con-

vention

D = {(x, y, z) | F (x, y, z) exists}

9
Examples:

1. Volume of a box of length x,

width y, height z,

0 ≤ x ≤ 1, 0 ≤ y ≤ 2, 0 ≤ z ≤ 3 :

V (x, y, z) = xyz

D = {(x, y, z) | x ∈ [0, 1], y ∈ [0, 2], z ∈

[0, 3]}

10
2. Surface area of an open box (no

top) of length x, width y, height z:

S(x, y, z) = xy + 2xz + 2yz

D = {(x, y, z) | 0 ≤ x < ∞, 0 ≤ y <

∞, 0 ≤ z < ∞}

11
 xeyz
3. F (x, y, z) = q
1 − x2 − y 2 − z 2

D = {(x, y, z) | x2 + y 2 + z 2 < 1}

The donain is the open unit sphere.

ln(x2 + y 2 + z 2)
4. F (x, y, z) = q
1 − x2 − y 2 − z 2

D = {(x, y, z) | 0 < x2 + y 2 + z 2 < 1}

12
range:

The range R of F is the set of real

numbers w such that w = F (x, y, z)

where (x, y, z) ∈ D.

Examples:

x2eyz
1. F (x, y, z) = q
1 − x2 − y 2 − z 2

D = {(x, y, z) | x2 + y 2 + z 2 < 1}

R = {w | 0 ≤ w < ∞} = [0, ∞)
13
13.2: Graphs, Level Curves, and

Level Surfaces

Functions of two variables:

Given z = f (x, y) with domain D,

the graph of f

{(x, y, z) | z = f (x, y), (x, y) ∈ D}.

The graph of f is a surface in 3-

space.

15
Examples:

4
1. A plane: z = 4 − 2x − y
3

2. A circular paraboloid : z = x2 + y 2

Figure 1.
16
3. An upper hemisphere of radius r:
q
z= r 2 − x2 − y 2

Figure 2.
Given w = F (x, y, z) with domain D,

the graph of F is

{(x, y, z, w) | w = F (x, y, z), (x, y, z) ∈ D}.

The graph of F is a “surface” in

4-space, called a hyper-surface.

No pictures!!

17
Level Curves; 2-D Functions:

Given z = f (x, y), the curve

f (x, y) = C

for a constant C, is called the level

curve of f .

18
The level curve:

{(x, y)|f (x, y) = C, (x, y) in the domain D}

Figure 3.

19
Examples:

1. z = x2 + y 2. The level curves of f are:

x2 + y 2 = C (we must have C ≥ 0)

√
circles, center at the origin, radius C.

Figure 4.

q
2. z= x2 + y 2. Level curves – same as 1.

20
 −4x 2−9y 2
3. z = e . The level curves

of f are:

2−9y 2
e −4x = C ⇒ 4x2 + 9y 2 = K

ellipses, center at the origin.

4. z = x2 − y 2. The level curves of

f are:

x2 − y 2 = C

hyperbolas, center at the origin.

21
5. z = 10 + x sin(2πx) + y sin(2πy). The
surface and level curves of f are:
z=10+x sin(2π x)+ y sin(2π y)

11

10.5

10

9.5
z

8.5

8
1

0.5 1
0.5
0
0
−0.5
−0.5
−1 −1
y
x

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

−0.2

−0.4

−0.6

−0.8

−1
−1 −0.8 −0.6 −0.4 −0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Figure 5.

22
 x2 −y 2
6. z = x2+y2 . The surface and level curves
of f are:
z=(x2−y2)/(x2+y2)

0.5

0
z

−0.5

−1
1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2 1
0.8 0.9
0.6 0.7
y 0.4 0.5
0 0.2 0.3
0 0.1
x

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

Figure 6.
23
Level Surfaces; 3-D Functions:

Given w = F (x, y, z), the set of points

satisfying

F (x, y, x) = C

where C is a constant, is called the

level surface of F .

24
Examples:

1. w = 3x + 2y + 6z. Level surfaces:

3x + 2y + 6z = C

parallel planes.

2. w = x2 + y 2 + z 2. Level surfaces:

x2+y 2+z 2 = C (we must have C ≥ 0)

√
spheres, center at the origin, radius C

25
Projections: Given two surfaces, S1 : z =
f (x, y) and S2 : z = g(x, y), in 3D that intersect
in a space curve C as below, i.e., the set of all
points (x, y, z) satisfying

z = f (x, y) and z = g(x, y),

S1: z = f (x, y)
z

S : z = g(x, y) y

projection of C
onto xy-plane
x

Figure 7.

The set of all points (x, y, 0) satisfying

f (x, y) = g(x, y)

is the porjection of C onto the xy-plane.

26
Projections: Example: The paraboloid of
revolution z = x2 + y 2 and the plane z = 2y + 3
intersect in a curve C. See the figure below.

Figure 8.

The projection of curve C onto the xy-plane is

x2 + y 2 = 2y + 3 ⇒ x2 + (y − 1)2 = 4.

Thus, the projection of C onto the xy-plane is

the circle of radius 2 centered at (0, 1, 0).
27
13.3: Limits and Continuity

• Open and closed sets

• Neighborhood of a point: A neigh-

borhood of a point x0 is a set of the

form

{x : kx − x0k < δ}

where δ is some positive number.

Figure 9.
28
• The interior of a set: A point x0 is

said to be an interior point of the set

Ω if the set Ω contains some neigh-

borhood of x0. The set of all interior

points of Ω is called the interior of Ω.

Figure 10: The point x1 is an interior point of Ω.

29
• The boundary of a set: A point x0

is said to be a boundary point of the set

Ω if every neighborhood of x0 contains

points that are in Ω and points that

are not in Ω. The set of all boundary

points of Ω is called the boundary of

Ω.

Figure 11: The point x2 is a boundary point of Ω.

30
Open set: A set Ω is said to be open

if each of its points is an interior point.

Closed set: A set Ω is said to be

closed if it contains its boundary.

31
Examples:

S1 = {(x, y) : 1 < x < 2, 1 < y < 2},

S2 = {(x, y) : 3 ≤ x ≤ 4, 1 ≤ y ≤ 2},

S3 = {(x, y) : 5 ≤ x ≤ 6, 1 < y < 2}.

Figure 12.

32
• Limits and Continuity

Given z = f (x, y) on domain D, we define the

limit as follows:
Def. (intuitive): lim f (x, y) = L if
(x,y)→(x0 ,y0 )
f (x, y) is close to L whenever (x, y) is close
to (x0, y0).

Figure 13.

• There are infinitely many paths for (x, y) ap-

proaching (x0, y0).
33
Def. (formal):

lim f (x, y) = L
(x,y)→(x0,y0)

if given any positive number ǫ there

is a positive number δ such that

|f (x, y) − L| < ǫ

whenever

d [(x, y), (x0, y0)] < δ,

• To show the existence of the limit,

we need to show that the above defi-

nition is satisfied.
34
• To show that the limit does not exist,

we only need to find some paths such

that when (x, y) approaching (x0, y0)

along different path, f (x, y) goes to dif-

ferent value.

Examples:

x2 − y 2
1. f (x, y) = 2
x + y2

lim f (x, y) =
(x,y)→(0,0)

35
 2xy
2. f (x, y) = 2
x + y2

lim f (x, y) =
(x,y)→(0,0)

36
The surface and level curves of
2xy
f (x, y) = 2 , (x, y) 6= (0, 0).
x + y2
2 2
z=2xy/(x +y )

0.5

0
z

−0.5

−1
1

0.5

−1
−0.5 −0.5
0
0.5
−1
x 1
y

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

−0.2

−0.4

−0.6

−0.8

−1
−1 −0.8 −0.6 −0.4 −0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Figure 14.
37
 3x2y
3. f (x, y) = 4
x + y2

lim f (x, y) =
(x,y)→(0,0)

38
Arithmetic of limits:
Let f and g be functions of several variables.
Suppose that as x → x0,
f (x) → L, g(x) → M ,
then

1. f (x) + g(x) → L + M ,

2. αf (x) → αL,

3. f (x)g(x) → LM ,

4. f (x)/g(x) → L/M (provided M 6= 0).

39
Continuity

Def: Given z = f (x) on domain D,

f is continuous at the point (x0) ∈ D

iff

lim f (x) = f (x0).

x→x0

f is continuous on D if it is contin-

uous at each point (x0) ∈ D.

40
Arithmetic of limits:
Let f and g be continuous at x0. Then as
x → x0, we have

1. f (x) + g(x) → f (x0 ) + g(x0),

2. αf (x) → αf (x0),

3. f (x)g(x) → f (x0)g(x0),

4. f (x)/g(x) → f (x0 )/g(x0)

(provided g(x0) 6= 0).

⇒ f + g, αf , f g, and f /g are continuous at x0.

41
Examples:

1. f (x, y) = C, f (x, y) = x, f (x, y) =

y are continuous functions.

⇒ f (x, y) = 2 + x + y + xy 2 − x4 is con-

tinuous.

• Actually any polynomial function is

continuous.

42
Examples:

• A rational function is continuous ev-

erywhere except the points where the

denominator is zero.

2xy
2. f (x, y) = 2 2
is continuous
x +y
everywhere except the point (0, 0).

xy + 2
3. f (x, y) = 2 2
is continu-
25 − x − y
ous everywhere except x2 + y 2 = 25.

43
• The continuity of composite func-

tions: if g(x) is continuous at x0 and

f (t) is continuous at g(x0), then

(f ◦ g)(x) = f (g(x)) is continuous

at x0.

As x → x0, we have g(x) → g(x0) and

f (g(x)) → f (g(x0)).

⇒ As x → x0, we have f (g(x)) → f (g(x0)).

44
Examples:

1. h(x, y, z) = sin(xyz) is continuous

everywhere. We have

h(x, y, z) = (f ◦ g)(x, y, z)

where f (t) = sin t and g(x, y, z) = xyz.

Since both f and g are continuous ev-

erwhere, h(x, y, z) is continuous every-

where.

45
Examples:

r
2. h(x, y) = 25 − x2 − y 2 is contin-

uous for x2 + y 2 < 25. We have

h(x, y) = (f ◦ g)(x, y)

√
where f (t) = t and g(x, y) = 25−x2 −

y 2. Here f (t) is continuous for t > 0

and g is continuous everywhere. Thus

we need that 25 − x2 − y 2 > 0.

46