NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED MATHEMATICS

SMA1201: CALCULUS OF SEVERAL VARIABLES

WORKSHEET 2: PARTIAL DERIVATIVES

1. Determine if the following limits exist or not. If they do exist give the value of the
limit.

(a) lim 3x2 z + yx cos(πx − πz),

(x,y,z)→(2,1,−1)
xy
(b) lim ,
x+y
(x,y)→(5,1)

x2 y 2
(c) lim ,
(x,y)→(0,0) x4 + 3y 4

x3 y 2
(d) lim ,
(x,y)→(0,0) x6 + y 2

2. Use the formal definition of a partial derivative to find fx and fy of f (x, y) = 6x2 y 2 .
dy
3. Find dx
for 3y 4 + x7 = 5x.
∂z ∂z
4. Given that z = z(x, y), find ∂x
and ∂y
for

(a) x3 z 2 − 5xy 5 z = x2 + y 3 ,
(b) x2 sin(2y − 5z) = 1 + y cos(6zx).

5. Find all first order derivatives for:

√
(a) f (x, y) = x4 + 6 y − 10,
(b) w = x2 y − 10y 2 z 3 + 43x − 7 tan(4y),
√
(c) h(s, t) = t7 ln(s2 ) + t93 − s4 ,
7

2 y−5y 3
(d) f (x, y) = cos( x4 )ex
9u
(e) z = u2 +5v
x sin(y)
(f) g(x, y, z) = z2
q
(g) z = x2 + ln(5x − 3y 2 )

6. Find all second order derivatives for:

(a) f (x, y) = cos(2x) − x2 e5y + 3y 2 ,

1
 2 y2
(b) f (x, y) = xe−x .

7. Compute the differentials for:

2 +y 2
(a) z = ex tan(2x),
t3 r 6
(b) u = s2
.
dz
8. Compute dt
for:

(a) z = xexy , x = t2 , y = t−1 ,

(b) z = x2 y 3 + y cos x, x = ln(t2 ), y = sin(4t),
dz
9. Compute dx
for z = x ln(xy) + y 3 , y = cos(x2 + 1).
∂z ∂z
√
10. Find ∂s
and ∂t
for z = e2r sin(3θ), r = st − t2 , θ = s2 + t 2 .
∂2f
11. Compute ∂θ 2
for f (x, y) if x = r cos θ and y = r sin θ.
dy
12. Find dx
for x cos(3y) + x3 y 5 = 3x − exy .

13. Find the directional derivatives:

(a) D~u f (2, 0) where f (x, y) = xexy + y and ~u is the unit vector in the direction of
θ = 2π 3
,
(b) D~u f (x, y, z) where f (x, y, z) = x2 z + y 3 z 2 − xyz in the direction of
~v = (−1, 0, 3).
(c) D~u f (x, y) for f (x, y) = x cos(y) in the direction of ~v = (2, 1).
(d) D~u f (x, y, z) for f (x, y, z) = sin(yz) + ln(x2 ) at (1, 1, π) in the direction of
~v = (1, 1, −1).

14. Suppose that the height of a hill above sea level is given by z = 1000 − 0.01x2 −
0.02y 2 . If you are at the point (60, 100) in what direction is the elevation changing
fastest? What is the maximum rate of change of the elevation at this point?

15. The gradient vector ∇f (x0 , y0 ) is orthogonal to the level curve f (x, y) = k at the
point (x0 , y0 ). Likewise, the gradient vector ∇f (x0 , y0 , z0 ) is orthogonal to the level
surface f (x, y, z) = k at the point (x0 , y0 , z0 ). Prove.