Partial Derivative of First Order

f (x, y) is a function of two variables. The first order partial derivative of

f with respect to x at a point (x, y) is
f f (x  h, y)  f (x, y)
 lim
x h0 h
f (x, y) is a function of two variables. The first partial derivative of f
with respect to y at a point (x, y) is
f f (x, y  k)  f (x, y)
 lim
y k0 k

∂f/∂x and ∂f/∂y are called First Order Partial Derivatives of f .

Example Compute the first order partial derivatives

f (x, y)  3x 2 y  2  y 3 .
f y  3x 2  3y 2
f x  6xy

Example Compute the first order partial derivatives

f ( x ,y )  2x  3y  4

fx  2 f y 3
Partial Derivative of Higher Order
Definition :-

if z(x, y) is a function of two variables. Then ∂z/∂x and ∂z/∂y are also
functions of two variables and their partials can be taken. Hence we can differentiate
with respect to x and y again and find ,
Ta k e t h e partial w i t h
2 z 2 f 2 z 2 f respect to x, a n d t h e n
1.     fxx
xx xx x2 x2 w i t h respect to x ag ai n .

Ta k e t h e partial w i t h
 z
2
 f2
2.   fxy respect to x, a n d t h en
yx yx
w i t h respect to y.
Take the partial with
2 z 2 f respect to y, and then
3.   f yx
xy xy with respect to x.

Take the partial with

 z
2
 f 2
 z  f2 2
4.     f yy respect to y, and then
yy yy y 2 y 2
with respect to y again.
 Example Find the second-order partial derivatives of the function
f (x, y)  3x 2 y  x ln y
f x  6xy  ln y 1
f y  3x  x  
2

y
x 1 1
f xx  6y f yy   f xy  6x  f yx  6x 
y2 y y
Example Find the second-order partial derivatives of the function
a. f (x, y)  3x  2 y 2
fx 3 f y  4y

f xx  0 f yy  4 f xy 0 f yx 0
 Find the higher-order partial derivatives of the function
Example 2

f (x, y)  exy

fx 

x e  y e
xy 2 2 xy 2 f y  y e    2xye
 xy 2 xy 2

1 xy 
2

f xx  y e 4 xy
f yx  2 ye xy 2 2

f xy  2 ye xy 2
 y2 
2xye xy 2
 2 ye xy 2
1  xy 
2

f yy  2x e 
xy 2
y 
e xy 2
. 2xy  2xe xy 2
1  2xy  2
 Practice

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