Question

Find the extreme values of f subject to both constraints f(x,y) = 2x^2+3y^2-4x-5, x^2 + y^2 <=16

Answer 1

$f(x,y)=2x^2+3y^2-4x-5$
$f_x=4x-4=0\implies x=1$
$f_y=6y=0\implies y=0$

$f(x,y)$ has only one critical point at $(x,y)=(1,0)$. The function has Hessian

$\mathbf H(x,y)=\begin{bmatrix}f_{xx}&f_{xy}\\f_{yx}&f_{yy}\end{bmatrix}=\begin{bmatrix}4&0\\0&6\end{bmatrix}$

which is positive definite for all $(x,y)$, which means $f(x,y)$ attains a minimum at the critical point with a value of $f(1,0)=-7$.

To find the extrema (if any) along the boundary, parameterize it by $x=4\cos t$ and $y=4\sin t$, with $0\le t$. On the boundary, we have

$f(x(t),y(t))=F(t)=2(4\cos t)^2+3(4\sin t)^2-4(4\cos t)-5=32\cos^2t+48\sin^2t-16\cos t-5$
$F(t)=35-16\cos t-8\cos2t$

Find the critical points along the boundary:

$F'(t)=16\sin t+16\sin2t=16\sin t+32\sin t\cos t=16\sin t(1+2\cos t)=0$
$\implies t=0,\dfrac{2\pi}3,\pi,\dfrac{4\pi}3$

Respectively, plugging these values into $F(t)$ gives 11, 47, 43, and 47. We omit the first and third, as we can see the absolute extrema occur when $F(t)=47$.

Now, solve for $x,y$ for both cases:

$t=\dfrac{2\pi}3\implies\begin{cases}x=4\cos t=-2\\y=4\sin t=2\sqrt3\end{cases}$

$t=\dfrac{4\pi}3\implies\begin{cases}x=4\cos t=-2\\y=4\sin t=-2\sqrt3\end{cases}$

so $f(x,y)$ has two absolute maxima at $(x,y)=(-2,\pm2\sqrt3)$ with the same value of 47.