MAST10008 Accelerated Mathematics 1 Version 2

Tutorial 10: Orthogonal diagonalisation, functions of several variables

 
11 12
1. Let A = .
12 4

(a) Find an orthogonal matrix Q and a diagonal matrix D such that QT AQ = D.

(b) Hence classify and sketch the conic

11x2 + 24xy + 4y 2 = 15

giving the directions of the principal axes.

 
4 −2 −1
2. Last week you showed that the symmetric matrix C =  −2 4 −1  is diagonalisable and that
−1 −1 1
P −1 CP = D where    
1 −1 −1 0 0 0
P = 1 −1 1  and D = 0 3 0 .
2 1 0 0 0 6

(a) Find an orthogonal matrix Q such that QT CQ = D.

(b) Consider the quadric surface

4x2 + 4y 2 + z 2 − 4xy − 2xz − 2yz = 4.

Use your previous answers to find a simplified equation for the surface. Hence identify and sketch
the surface using your new coordinate axes (i.e. the principal axes for the quadric).

3. Consider the surface p

z = f (x, y) = − 9 − 2x2 − y 2

(a) Sketch the level curves for f (x, y).

(b) Find any x, y, and z intercepts.
(c) Use the above information to identify and sketch the surface.

4. Find the largest possible domains where the following functions are defined:
e−x−y
(a) f (x, y) = (b) g(s, t) = log(3s2 − t)
3 + sin(x + y)
5. Evaluate the following limits, explaining your answers.
e−x−y
(a) lim (b) lim log(3s2 − t)
(x,y)→(0,0) 3 + sin(x + y) (s,t)→(2,1)

6. Find all the first and second order partial derivatives for the following functions:

(a) f (x, y) = cos(xy 3 ) (b) f (x, y) = 3xy 2 + x2 e2y

p
7. Show that f (x, y) = log x2 + y 2 is harmonic when (x, y) 6= (0, 0), that is, satisfies Laplace’s equation:

∂2f ∂2f
+ = 0.
∂x2 ∂y 2

Mathematics and Statistics 1 University of Melbourne