Arkansas Tech University

MATH 2934: Calculus III

Dr. Marcel B. Finan
18 Dierentiability and Some of its Proper-
ties
A function of one variable is dierentiable at a point if its derivative has a
value at that point. However, the term dierentiable is not used the same for
functions of several variables; in particular, a function of several variables is
not necessarily dierentiable if its partial derivatives have values at a given
point.
Recall from Section 14.3 that a function of two variables having a tangent
plane (a, b) is equivalent to a function being dierentiable there. More for-
mally we dene dierentiability as follows:
A function z = f(x, y) is said to be dierentiable at (a, b) if f(x, y) can be
expressed in the form
f(x, y) = f(a, b) + f
x
(a, b)(x a) + f
y
(a, b)(y b) + E(x, y)
with the relative error E satisfying
lim
(x,y)(a,b)
E(x, y)

(x a)
2
+ (y b)
2
= 0.
The function f is said to be dierentiable in the region R of the plane if
f is dierentiable at each point of R.
Remark 18.1
Compare the above denition with the single variable calculus: A function
f(x) is dierentiable at x = a if and only if
f

(x) =
f(x) f(a)
(x a)
(x),
where
lim
xa
(x) = 0.
1
The above can be written as
f(x) = f(a) + f

(x)(x a) + (x)(x a)
with
lim
xa
(x)(x a)
x a)
= lim
xa
(x) = 0.
It follows from the denition, that dierentiability implies existence of par-
tial derivatives. Therefore if any of the partial derivative fails to exist then
the function cannot be dierentiable.
Example 18.1
Show that the function f(x, y) =

x
2
+ y
2
is not dierentiable at (0, 0).
Solution.
Recall that the surface is a cone opening up with a vertex at (0, 0, 0). Let us
compute f
x
(0, 0). We have
f
x
(0, 0) = lim
h0
f(h, 0) f(0, 0)
h
=
|h|
h
= 1
Thus, f
x
(0, 0) does not exist and as a consequence the function is not dier-
entiable at (0, 0)
Now suppose we have a function that is continuous and its rst partial deriva-
tives exist at a point. Is it dierentiable? The answer is no, as the following
example illustrates.
Example 18.2
Show that the function
f(x, y) =

xy

x
2
+y
2
(x, y) = (0, 0)
0 otherwise
is not dierentiable at (0, 0) even though f
x
(0, 0) and f
y
(0, 0) both exist and
f(x, y) is continuous at (0, 0).
2
Solution.
The graph is pictured in Figure 18.1. It follows that f(x, y) is continuous at
(0, 0). Moreover,
f
x
(0, 0) = lim
h0
f(h, 0) f(0, 0)
h
= lim
h0
0 = 0
f
y
(0, 0) = lim
h0
f(0, h) f(0, 0)
h
= lim
h0
0 = 0
That is, the partial derivatives exist at (0, 0). So if f were dierentiable at
(0, 0), we would have
lim
(x,y)(0,0)
f(x, y)

x
2
+ y
2
= lim
(x,y)(0,0)
xy
x
2
+ y
2
= 0
But along y = x the limit is
lim
(x,y)(0,0)
f(x, y)

x
2
+ y
2
= lim
(x,x)0
x x
x
2
+ x
2
=
1
2
.
Hence, f(x, y) is not dierentiable at (0, 0)
Figure 18.1
As in the case for functions of one variable, multivariable functions that are
dierentiable are also continuous.
Theorem 18.1
Let z = f(x, y) be a function of two variables with (a, b) in the domain of f.
If f(x, y) is dierentiable at (a, b) then f(x, y) is continuous there.
3
Proof.
We wish to show that
lim
(x,y)(a,b)
[f(x, y) f(a, b)] = 0.
Since f(x, y) is dierentiable at (a, b) we can write
f(x, y) f(a, b) = f
x
(a, b)(x a) + f
y
(a, b)(y b) + E(x, y)
Thus,
lim
(x,y)(a,b)
[f(x, y) f(a, b)] = lim
(x,y)(a,b)
[f
x
(a, b)(x a) + f
y
(a, b)(y b)
+
E(x, y)

(x a)
2
+ (y b)
2

(x a)
2
+ (y b)
2
]
=f
x
(a, b) 0 + f
y
(a, b) 0 + 0 = 0
The converse is not true in general. Example 18.1 shows that f(x, y) =

x
2
+ y
2
is continuous at (0, 0) but is not dierentiable there.
The mere existence of partial derivatives at a point does not necessarily
imply continuity and therefore dierentiability as illustrated in the following
example.
Example 18.3
Show that the function
f(x, y) =

xy
x
2
+y
2
(x, y) = (0, 0)
0 otherwise
is not continuous at (0, 0) (and therefore not dierentiable there) even though
f
x
(0, 0) and f
y
(0, 0) exist.
Solution.
Continuity implies that
lim
(x,y)(0,0)
f(x, y) = f(0, 0) = 0
along any curve through (0, 0). If we approach the origin along the line y = x
then:
lim
(x,y)(0,0)
f(x, y) = lim
(x,x)0
x x
x
2
+ x
2
=
1
2
= f(0, 0).
4
Hence, f(x, y) is not continuous at (0, 0). However, the partial derivatives do
exist at (0, 0) :
f
x
(0, 0) = lim
h0
f(h, 0) f(0, 0)
h
= lim
h0
0 = 0
f
y
(0, 0) = lim
h0
f(0, h) f(0, 0)
h
= lim
h0
0 = 0
So the natural question to ask then is under what conditions can we conclude
that f is dierentiable at (a, b). The answer is contained in the following
theorem whose proof is beyond the scope of a calculus course.
Theorem 18.2
If f(x, y), f
x
(x, y), and f
y
(x, y) are continuous for all (x, y) in the disk (x
a)
2
+ (y b)
2
< , for some > 0 then f(x, y) is dierentiable at (a, b).
Example 18.4
In what region is the function f(x, y) =

y
2
x
2
dierentiable?
Solution.
Since f
x
(x, y) = x(y
2
x
2
)

1
2
and f
y
(x, y) = y(y
2
x
2
)

1
2
, according to the
above theorem the function is dierentiable everywhere in the region above
y = |x| and below y = |x| as shown in Figure 18.2
Figure 18.2
5