Mathematics 1b: Sheet 1 (will not be marked)

1. Find z/x and z/y when

x
(a) z = x2 ln y, (b) z = x2 e3y , (c) z = , (d) z = sin(x2 + 5y), (e) z = exy ln y
x + y2
2

2. Find wx , wy and wz when

x2 y 3
(a) w = xyz 2x3 + y 2 z, (b) w =
z
z ,
3. Let z = 2x2 y + xy 3 + 3x4 y 3 . Find all the first and second order partial derivatives x
z , 2 z , 2 z , 2 z and 2 z and check that 2 z = 2 z .
y x2 y 2 xy yx xy yx
T 2 T 2T
4. If k is a constant and T = e4kt (cos 2x + cos 2y), calculate , and , and check
t x2 y 2
that
2T 2T
!
T
=k +
t x2 y 2
5. It is a general result that, for any function z = f (x, y),
!2 !2 !2 !2
z z z 1 z
+ = + 2
x y r r

where r and are the polar coordinates of (x, y), so that x = r cos and y = r sin . Show
that the function in Question 1(c) becomes z = cos
r in polar coordinates. For this particular
function, check the correctness of the above equation.
6. In a coal processing plant a formula for the flow rate Q of slurry along a pipe is

pr4
Q=
8l
Calculate the partial derivatives of Q with respect to each of the four variables p, r, and l
and show that, in the usual notation,
Q p r l
+4 .
Q p r l

If the four variables p, r, and l are subject

 to maximum percentage errors of 2%, 1%, 3%
 p 
and 2% respectively (so that, for example,   0.02), calculate the maximum percentage
 
p
error in Q.