Assignment 2: Several variables calculus & differential geometry (MTH305A)

(1) Use definition to check the differentiability of the function f (x, y) = x(y + 1) at
(1, 0).

(2) Identify R4 with the set M2 (R) of 2 real matrices . Define F : R4 → R4 by F (A) =
A2 (Matrix multiplication of A with itself). Show that F is differentiable and what
is its derivative?

(3) Let g be a continuous function on the unit circle {x ∈ R2 | kxk = 1} such that
g(1, 0) = g(0, 1) and g(−x) = −g(x). Define f : R2 → R by
  
kxkg x if x 6= 0
kxk
f (x) =
0 if x = 0.

(a) If x ∈ R2 and h : R → R is defined by h(t) = f (tx), show that h is differentiable.

(b) Show that f is NOT differentiable at (0, 0) unless g = 0.

(c) Show that f : R2 → R defined by


 √ x|y| if (x, y) 6= 0
f (x, y) = x2 +y 2
0 if (x, y) = (0, 0).

is not differentiable at (0, 0).

(4) Let f : Rn → R be a function such that |f (x)| ≤ kxk2 . Show that f is differentiable
at 0.

(5) Let g : R → R be a continuous function. Find f 0 using chain rule for the following:
R x+y
(a) f (x, y) = a
g.
R xy
(b) f (x, y) = a
g.
R sin(x sin(y sin z))
(c) f (x, y, z) = xy
g.

(6) Let Ei , i = 1, . . . , k, be Euclidean spaces of various dimensions. A function

f : E1 × · · · × Ek → Rp

is called multilinear if for each choice of xj ∈ Ej , i 6= j, the function g : Ei → Rp ,

defined by
g(x) = f (x1 , . . . , xi−1 , x, xi+1 , . . . , xk )
is a linear transformation.

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(a) If f is multilinear and i 6= j, show that for h = (h1 , . . . , hk ) with hl ∈ El , we

have
kf (a1 , . . . , hi , . . . , hj , . . . , ak )k
lim = 0.
h→0 khk
Pk
(b) Show that Df (a1 , . . . , ak )(x1 , . . . , xk ) = f (a1 , . . . , ai−1 , xi , ai+1 , . . . , ak ).
i=1

(7) Define f : R → R by
−2
(
e−x if x 6= 0
f (x) =
0 if x = 0.
∞
Show that f is a C function.

(8) Let f : Rn → R. For x ∈ Rn the limit

f (a + tx) − f (a)
lim
t→0 t
if exists, denoted by Dx (f )(a), is called the directional derivative of a in the direction
x.

(a) Show that Dei f (a) = Di f (a).

(b) Show that Dtx f (a) = aDx f (a).

(c) If f is differentiable at a, show that

Sx f (a) = Df (a)(x)
and therefore
Dx+y f (a) = Dx f (a) + Dy f (a).

(9) Give an example of a function where all the directional derivative exist at a point
but not differentiable at that point.

(10) Give an example of a function where all partial derivative exist but not all directional
derivatives.