Question

HELP MEeeeeeeeee g: R² → R a differentiable function at (0, 0), with g (x, y) = 0 only at the point (x, y) = (0, 0). Considerg src="https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=f%28x%2Cy%29%5Cleft%20%5C%7B%20%7B%7B%5Cfrac%7Btan%5E2%28g%28x%2Cy%29%29%20if%20%28x%2Cy%29%5Cneq%20%280%2C0%29%7D%7Bg%28x%2Cy%29%20%7D%20%7D%20%5Catop%20%7B0%20if%20%28x%2Cy%29%3D%280%2C0%29%7D%7D%20%5Cright." id="TexFormula1" title="f(x,y)\left \{ {{\frac{tan^2(g(x,y)) if (x,y)\neq (0,0)}{g(x,y) } } \atop {0 if (x,y)=(0,0)}} \right." alt="f(x,y)\left \{ {{\frac{tan^2(g(x,y)) if (x,y)\neq (0,0)}{g(x,y) } } \atop {0 if (x,y)=(0,0)}} \right." align="absmiddle" class="latex-formula">
(a) Calculate as partial derivatives of f in (0, 0), in terms of the partial derivatives of g.

(b) Show that f is differentiable at (0, 0).

Answer 1

(a) This follows from the definition for the partial derivative, with the help of some limit properties and a well-known limit.

• Recall that for $f:\mathbb R^2\to\mathbb R$, we have the partial derivative with respect to $x$ defined as

$\displaystyle \frac{\partial f}{\partial x} = \lim_{h\to0}\frac{f(x+h,y) - f(x,y)}h$

The derivative at (0, 0) is then

$\displaystyle \frac{\partial f}{\partial x}(0,0) = \lim_{h\to0}\frac{f(0+h,0) - f(0,0)}h$

• By definition of $f$, $f(0,0)=0$, so

$\displaystyle \frac{\partial f}{\partial x}(0,0) = \lim_{h\to0}\frac{f(h,0)}h = \lim_{h\to0}\frac{\tan^2(g(h,0))}{h\cdot g(h,0)}$

• Expanding the tangent in terms of sine and cosine gives

$\displaystyle \frac{\partial f}{\partial x}(0,0) = \lim_{h\to0}\frac{\sin^2(g(h,0))}{h\cdot g(h,0) \cdot \cos^2(g(h,0))}$

• Introduce a factor of $g(h,0)$ in the numerator, then distribute the limit over the resulting product as

$\displaystyle \frac{\partial f}{\partial x}(0,0) = \lim_{h\to0}\frac{\sin^2(g(h,0))}{g(h,0)^2} \cdot \lim_{h\to0}\frac1{\cos^2(g(h,0))} \cdot \lim_{h\to0}\frac{g(h,0)}h$

• The first limit is 1; recall that for $a\neq0$, we have

$\displaystyle\lim_{x\to0}\frac{\sin(ax)}{ax}=1$

The second limit is also 1, which should be obvious.

• In the remaining limit, we end up with

$\displaystyle \frac{\partial f}{\partial x}(0,0) = \lim_{h\to0}\frac{g(h,0)}h = \lim_{h\to0}\frac{g(h,0)-g(0,0)}h$

and this is exactly the partial derivative of $g$ with respect to $x$.

$\displaystyle \frac{\partial f}{\partial x}(0,0) = \lim_{h\to0}\frac{g(h,0)-g(0,0)}h = \frac{\partial g}{\partial x}(0,0)$

For the same reasons shown above,

$\displaystyle \frac{\partial f}{\partial y}(0,0) = \frac{\partial g}{\partial y}(0,0)$

(b) To show that $f$ is differentiable at (0, 0), we first need to show that $f$ is continuous.

• By definition of continuity, we need to show that

$\left|f(x,y)-f(0,0)\right|$

is very small, and that as we move the point $(x,y)$ closer to the origin, $f(x,y)$ converges to $f(0,0)$.

We have

$\left|f(x,y)-f(0,0)\right| = \left|\dfrac{\tan^2(g(x,y))}{g(x,y)}\right| \\\\ = \left|\dfrac{\sin^2(g(x,y))}{g(x,y)^2}\cdot\dfrac{g(x,y)}{\cos^2(g(x,y))}\right| \\\\ = \left|\dfrac{\sin(g(x,y))}{g(x,y)}\right|^2 \cdot \dfrac{|g(x,y)|}{\cos^2(x,y)}$

The first expression in the product is bounded above by 1, since $|\sin(x)|\le|x|$ for all $x$. Then as $(x,y)$ approaches the origin,

$\displaystyle\lim_{(x,y)\to(0,0)}\frac{|g(x,y)|}{\cos^2(x,y)} = 0$

So, $f$ is continuous at the origin.

• Now that we have continuity established, we need to show that the derivative exists at (0, 0), which amounts to showing that the rate at which $f(x,y)$ changes as we move the point $(x,y)$ closer to the origin, given by

$\left|\dfrac{f(x,y)-f(0,0)}{\sqrt{x^2+y^2}}\right|,$

approaches 0.

Just like before,

$\left|\dfrac{\tan^2(g(x,y))}{g(x,y)\sqrt{x^2+y^2}}\right| = \left|\dfrac{\sin^2(g(x,y))}{g(x,y)}\right|^2 \cdot \left|\dfrac{g(x,y)}{\cos^2(g(x,y))\sqrt{x^2+y^2}}\right| \\\\ \le \dfrac{|g(x,y)|}{\cos^2(g(x,y))\sqrt{x^2+y^2}}$

and this converges to $g(0,0)=0$, since differentiability of $g$ means

$\displaystyle \lim_{(x,y)\to(0,0)}\frac{g(x,y)-g(0,0)}{\sqrt{x^2+y^2}}=0$

So, $f$ is differentiable at (0, 0).