Partial Differentiation

1. The equation 3y = z 3 + 3xz defines z implicitly as a function of x and y.

∂ 2z ∂ 2z ∂ 2z
(a) Evaluate , , and .
∂y 2 ∂x2 ∂x∂y
(b) Verify that z is a solution of
∂ 2z ∂ 2z
x 2 + 2 = 0.
∂y ∂x
2. If x = eu cos θ and y = eu sin θ, show that
∂ 2φ ∂ 2φ
 2
∂ 2f

2 2 ∂ f
+ 2 = (x + y ) + 2 ,
∂u2 ∂θ ∂x2 ∂y
where f (x, y) = φ(u, θ)

3. The temperature of a point (x, y, z) on the unit sphere is given by

T (x, y, z) = xy + yz.

By using the method of Lagrange multipliers find the temperature of the hottest point on the
sphere.

4. Find the ratio of the radius R to the height H of a right-circular cylinder of fixed volume V
that will minimum the surface area A.

5. (難, 可 不 做) The entropy S(H, T ), the magnetization M (H, T ), and the internal energy
U (H, T ) of a magnetic salt placed in a magnetic field of strength H at temperature T are
connected by the equation T dS = dU − HdM.
   
∂M ∂S
(a) Prove that = .
∂T H ∂H T
  
αH
(b) For a particular salt M (H, T ) = M0 1−exp − , show that, at a fixed temperature,
T
if the applied field is increased from zero to a strength such that the magnetization of the
3 M0
salt is M0 , then the salt’s entropy decreases by an amount (3 − ln 4).
4 4α