Scribd
Upload
45 views2 pages

Higher-Order Partial Derivatives Math 131 Multivariate Calculus

1) When the partial derivatives of a function f(x,y) are continuous, the order of taking partial derivatives does not matter and fyx = fxy. 2) Higher-order partial derivatives generalize to functions with more than two variables. The Hessian matrix, containing all second-order partial derivatives, is used to determine the character of critical points. 3) Minimal surfaces have the least area among all surfaces with a given boundary. Examples include Costa's surface and Scherk's surface, which satisfies the partial differential equation for minimal surfaces.

Uploaded by

Ashok Pradhan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
45 views2 pages

Higher-Order Partial Derivatives Math 131 Multivariate Calculus

1) When the partial derivatives of a function f(x,y) are continuous, the order of taking partial derivatives does not matter and fyx = fxy. 2) Higher-order partial derivatives generalize to functions with more than two variables. The Hessian matrix, containing all second-order partial derivatives, is used to determine the character of critical points. 3) Minimal surfaces have the least area among all surfaces with a given boundary. Examples include Costa's surface and Scherk's surface, which satisfies the partial differential equation for minimal surfaces.

Uploaded by

Ashok Pradhan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Theorem 1.

When the first and second partials of


a function of two variables x and y are all continu-
ous functions, the order that the partials are taken
doesnt matter, that is, fyx = fxy , or in partial no-
Higher-order partial derivatives tation
2f 2f
Math 131 Multivariate Calculus = .
D Joyce, Spring 2014 x y y x
Functions that have continuous first and second
Higher-order derivatives. Lets start with a partial derivatives are called C 2 functions, or func-
function f : R2 R and only consider its second- tions of class C 2 .
order partial derivatives. Take, for example, The concept of second-order derivatives general-
izes as you would expect it to for third- and higher-
f (x, y) = (x + y)ey . order derivatives, and not just to functions R2 R
but to scalar-valued functions Rn R in general.
We can easily compute its two first-order partial The text has several examples, and youll be work-
derivatives. ing out more in the exercises.
f
fx = = ey
x
Preview of an application of second-order
f y y y
fy = = e + (x + y)e = (1 + x + y)e partial derivatives. Youll recall from calculus
y
of one variable that second derivatives were used in
Each of these two functions, in turn, has two par- something called the second-derivative test for ex-
tial derivatives. Their partials with respect to x are treme values. You used it on critical points, that
is, values of x where f 0 (x) was 0. It said that if the
2
f f second derivative was positive at a critical point,
fxx = = =0
x x x2 then f had a minimum there, but if the second
derivative was negative, then a maximum.
f 2f y
fyx = = =e Things are more complicated in higher dimen-
x y xy sions since there are more directions to consider.
Notice how the two different notations for partials All the second order partial derivatives come into
indicate the order of taking derivatives differently. play. A particular matrix called the Hessian is filled
The partials with respect to y are with them, and its used to determine the character
of critical points.
f 2f
fxy = = = ey
y x yx Minimal surfaces, another application A
surface with a given boundary is called a minimal
f 2f y y y surface if among all surfaces with that boundary it
fyy = = = e +(1+x+y)e = (2+x+y)e
y y y 2 has the least area. Of course, a circle bounds its
Thus, there are four second-order partial deriva- interior, but thats not interesting since its planar.
tives of this function f . Notice that in this example Were interested in the non planar ones. The first
the two mixed partial derivatives are equal, that is, two were the catenoid and helicoid.
fyx = fxy . These two mixed partials are usually An interesting minimal surface is Costas, illus-
equal. We wont prove the following theorem, but trated in figure 1. It was constructed in 1982 by
well frequently use it. Celso Jose da Costa. Its boundary consists of three

1
Figure 1: Costas minimal surface Figure 2: Scherks surface

circular components. See the wiki article Costas Math 131 Home Page at
minimal surface for details about it. http://math.clarku.edu/~djoyce/ma131/
You can make your own minimal surfaces by dip-
ping bent clothes hangers in a soapy solution, but
dont let there be any bubbles. A spherical bubble
isnt a minimal surface.
It turns out that if a minimal surface is the graph
z = f (x, y) of a function two variables, then
(1 + zy )2 zxx = (1 + zx2 )zyy
and conversely, functions whose derivatives satisfy
that partial differential equation have graphs that
are minimal surfaces. One such graph is Scherks
surface.
Example 2 (Scherks surface). Heinrich Scherk
constructed some embedded minimal surfaces in
1834. This surface has the equation
ez cos y = cos x.
The part of the surface above the square
[1.5, 1.5] [1.5, 1.5] is illustrated in figure 2. As
an exercise, verify that (1 + zy )2 zxx = (1 + zx2 )zyy
holds for this surface.

You might also like