Harvey Mudd College Math Tutorial:

Partial Dierentiation
Suppose you want to forecast the weather this weekend in Los Angeles. You construct a formula for the temperature as a function of several environmental variables, each of which is not entirely predictable. Now you would like to see how your weather forecast would change as one particular environmental factor changes, holding all the other factors constant. To do this investigation, you would use the concept of a partial derivative. Let the temperature T depend on variables x and y, T = f (x, y). The rate of change of f with respect to x (holding y constant) is called the partial derivative of f with respect to x and is denoted by fx (x, y). Similarly, the rate of change of f with respect to y is called the partial derivative of f with respect to y and is denoted by fy (x, y). We dene fx (x, y) = lim fy (x, y) = lim f (x + h, y) f (x, y) h0 h

f (x, y + h) f (x, y) . h0 h

Do you see the similarity beween these and the limit denition of a function of one variable? Example Let f (x, y) = xy 2 Then fx (x, y) = lim = = y .

(x+h)y 2 xy 2 h h0 hy 2 lim h0 h 2

fy (x, y) = lim =

x(y+h)2 xy 2 h h0 2xyh+xh2 lim h h0 h0

= lim (2xy + xh) = 2xy.

In practice, we use our knowledge of single-variable calculus to compute partial derivatives. To calculate fx (x, y), you view y as a constant and dierentiate f (x, y) with respect to x: fx (x, y) = y 2 as expected since Similarly, fy (x, y) = 2xy since d 2 y = 2y. dy d [x] = 1. dx

More Examples

Notation
Let z = f (x, y). The partial derivative fx (x, y) can also be written as f z (x, y) or . x x Similarly, fy (x, y) can also be written as f z (x, y) or . y y The partial derivative fy (x, y) evaluated at the point (x0 , y0 ) can be expressed in several ways: f f , or (x0 , y0 ). fx (x0 , y0 ), x (x0 ,y0 ) x There are analogous expressions for fy (x0 , y0 ).

Geometrical Meaning

Suppose the graph of z = f (x, y) is the surface shown. Consider the partial derivative of f with respect to x at a point (x0 , y0 ). Holding y constant and varying x, we trace out a curve that is the intersection of the surface with the vertical plane y = y0 . The partial derivative fx (x0 , y0 ) measures the change in z per unit increase in x along this curve. That is, fx (x0 , y0 ) is just the slope of the curve at (x0 , y0 ). The geometrical interpretation of fy (x0 , y0 ) is analogous.

Notes
Functions of More than Two Variables For g(x, y, z), the partial derivative gx (x, y, z) is calculated by holding y and z constant and dierentiating with respect to x. The partial derivatives gy (x, y, z) and gz (x, y, z) are calculated in an analagous manner.

Example
Higher-Order Partial Derivatives For a function f (x, y), the partial derivatives f and x and y, so we can take partial derivatives of them:
fxx = x y f x f y = 2f x2 2f y 2 fxy = y x f x f y = 2f yx 2f . xy
f y

are themselves functions of x

fyy =

fyx =

Higher-order partial derivatives (e.g. fxxy ) can also be calculated. Using the subscript notation, the order of dierentiation is from left to right.

fxy and fyx are called mixed second-order partial derivatives. If f , fx , fy , fxy , and fyx are continuous on an open region, then fxy = fyx at each point in the region, so the order in which the dierentiation is done does not matter.

Example

Key Concepts
Consider a function f (x, y). fx (x, y) fy (x, y) = = rate of change of f with respect to x rate of change of f with respect to y = = f (x + h, y) f (x, y) h0 h lim
h0

lim

f (x, y + h) f (x, y) . h

To calculate fx (x, y), dierentiate f with respect to x holding y constant. Similarly, to calculate fy (x, y), dierentiate f with respect to y holding x constant. [Im ready to take the quiz.] [I need to review more.] [Take me back to the Tutorial Page]