Math 20C : Practice Problems

You can use these problems for extra practice in preparation for the midterm and final exams.
This list is subject to change during the quarter.

Chapter 12
1. Let v, w, u be vectors in R3 . Answer the following questions:
(a) Suppose that kvk = 2, the length of the projection of w along v is 5, and the angle
between v and w is obtuse. Find v · w.
(b) Suppose that kv ⇥ wk = 5. Find the area of the parallelogram spanned by 2v w and
v + w.
(c) Suppose that v 6= 0. If v · w = v · u, does it follow that w = u?
(d) Suppose that v 6= 0. If v ⇥ w = v ⇥ u, does it follow that w = u?
(e) Suppose that v 6= 0 and v is orthogonal to w and u. If v ⇥ w = v ⇥ u, does it follow
that w = u?
2. Answer the following questions:
(a) Find an equation for the line where the plane x + y = z meets the plane y + z = x.
(b) Find an equation for the plane that contains the points P = (1, 0, 6) and Q = (2, 3, 8)
and is parallel to the line r(t) = h1, 2, 3i + t h1, 1, 4i.
(c) Find an equation for the plane that contains the line r(t) = ht + 2, t, t 1i and the point
(1, 1, 1).

Chapter 13
1. A particle traveling on the curve r(t) = hln t, t2 i, where t 1, flies o↵ on a tangent at
t = 2. Compute the position of the particle at t = 4.
2. Find the arc length of the curve r(t) = hcos t, sin t, ln(cos t)i, for 0  t  ⇡4 .
3. A particle moves with constant acceleration a(t) = h1, 2, 0i. If the position at t = 0 is
h1, 0, 0i and the velocity at t = 0 is h0, 1, 0i, determine the position of the particle at time t.

Chapter 14
xy 2
1. (a) Evaluate lim(x,y)!(0,0) f (x, y) or determine that it does not exist for f (x, y) = x2 +y 4
.
x4 +8y 4
(b) Evaluate lim(x,y)!(0,0) f (x, y) or determine that it does not exist for f (x, y) = x4 +y 4
.
(c) Evaluate lim(x,y)!(0,0) f (x, y) or determine that it does not exist for f (x, y) = p x .
|x|+|y|
3x2 y
(d) Evaluate lim(x,y)!(0,0) f (x, y) or determine that it does not exist for f (x, y) = x2 +y 2
.
1
2. Let f (x, y) = 9 x2 y 2
.
@f @f
(a) Find the partial derivatives @x
and @y
.
(b) Find an equation for the tangent plane to the surface z = f (x, y) at the point (2, 2, 1).
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3. Let f (x, y, z) = p .
x2 +y 2 +z 2
5
(a) Show that fxx = (2x2 y2 z 2 )(x2 + y 2 + z 2 ) 2 .
(b) Show that fxx + fyy + fzz = 0. (Hint: use (a) and the analogous formulae for fyy , fzz .)
4. Find the linear approximation of f (x, y) = 5x2 + y 2 at (1, 2) and use it to estimate
f (1.05, 2.1).
5. When a beetle crawls in the direction i, the temperature increases at a rate of 2 degrees
per cm. When it crawls in the direction j, the temperature decreases at the rate 2 degrees
per cm. In what direction should it move if it wants to
(a) get warm as fast as possible?
(b) cool o↵ as fast as possible?
(c) keep the temperature the same?
6. The gradient of the function g(x, y, z) at (3, 4, 5) is the vector (2, 1, 2).
(a) Find the values of gx and gy and gz at (3, 4, 5).
(b) Find the maximum rate of change of g(x, y, z) at (3, 4, 5).
(c) Find the rate of change of g at (3, 4, 5) in the direction (4, 8, 1).
7. Let g(x, y) = ( xy , sin(2x + y), 6) and f (u, v, w) = ln(u + v + 2w). Compute @
@y
(f g) at
(3, 1).
8. (a) Show that u(x, t) = f (x+at)+g(x at) is a solution of the wave equation utt = a2 uxx .
(b) If u = f (x, y) where x = es cos t and y = es sin t, show that fxx + fyy = e 2s
[uss + utt ].
9. Find the critical point(s) of f (x, y) = x3 + y 2 6xy + 6x + 3y and then determine whether
they are local maxima, local minima, or saddle points.
x2 y 2
10. Find the absolute maximum and minimum of f (x, y) = e (x2 + 2y 2 ) on the disk
x2 + y 2  4.
11. Use Lagrange multipliers to find the absolute maximum and minimum values of the
function f (x, y, z) = xyz subject to the constraint that x2 + y 2 + z 2 = 3.

Chapter 15
Compute the following integrals:
ZZ
x
1. dA, where R = [0, 1] ⇥ [0, 1].
1 + xy
Z ZR
3 p
2. ex dA, where R = {(x, y) | 0  y  4, y  x  2}.
R
Z p
⇡ Z p
⇡
3. cos(y 2 ) dy dx
Z0Z Z x

4. z dV , where W = {(x, y, z) | 0  x  y  1, x  z y  x}.

W
 Problems for review session 2
p
1. Assume that r0 (t) = ht sin t, t cos t, 2 t + 1i and r(0) = h0, 1, 1i.
(a) Find r(t).
(b) Find the length of the curve traced by r(t) over the interval 0  t  2.
x2 y 2
2. Evaluate the limit lim or determine that it does not exist.
(x,y)!(0,0) |x| + |y|
p
3. Let f (x, y) = 1 + x2 + y 2 .
@f @f
(a) Find the partial derivative and .
@x @y
(b) Let (a, b) 2 R2 and c = f (a, b). Show that the vector h a, b, ci is normal to the tangent
plane to the surface z = f (x, y) at the point (a, b, c).
4. Let g : R3 ! R be a di↵erentiable function such that rg(0, 1, 1) = (3, 4, 5).
(a) Find the maximum rate of increase of g at (0, 1, 1).
(b) Find the rate of change of g at (0, 1, 1) in the direction (1, 2, 2).
3
(c) Let f : R ! R be given by f (t) = g(ln(t2 + 1), et , cos t). Find f 0 (0).
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Math 20C worksheet: week 3

Section covered: 13.2

Topics covered:
• derivatives of vector valued functions (13.2)
• antiderivative of vector valued functions (13.2)
• fundamental theorem of calculus (13.2)
p
1. Let r(t) = hsin t, 1 t2 cos t, t cos ti for t 2 ( 1, 1).
(a) Calculate kr(t)k.
(b) Calculate r(t) · r0 (t).
2. Show that the derivative of the norm is not necessarily equal to the norm of the derivative by
verifying that kr(t)k0 6= kr0 (t)k at t = 0 for the vector-valued function r(t) = ht, 0, et i
3
3. Find a parametrization of the tangent line to r(t) = hln(t2 + 1), et 1 , cos(1 t4 )i at t = 1.
4. Let r0 (t) = h 1t , e2t , t2 i and suppose r(1) = h0, 0, 0i
(a) Determine r(t)
(b) Determine r00 (t)
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Math 20C worksheet: week 4

Sections covered: 13.3, 13.5, 14.1

Topics covered:

• arc length (13.3)

• acceleration, velocity, and position vectors (13.5)
• tangential and normal components of acceleration (13.5)
• functions of two or more variables (13.5)
• domain of multivariable functions (13.5)
• contour maps (13.5)

⌦p 2 ↵
1. Find the length of the curve r(t) = 2 t , t cos t sin t, t sin t+cos t over the interval 0  t  1.
D E
1
2. Find r(t) given that a(t) = t+1 , e t , 6t , along with v(0) = h1, 1, 2i and r(0) = h0, 0, 0i.
p
3. Consider the function f (x, y) = x2 y2.

(a) Sketch the domain of f .

(b) Determine the range of f .
(c) Sketch the graph of z = f (x, y).

4. Match the following functions from R2 to R with the following graphs (here, the red and green
axes are respectively the x and y axes):

1
z = x2 + y 2 , z = x2 + 16y 2 , z = sin(x), z = sin(y), z= .
1 + x2 + y 2
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Math 20C worksheet: week 5

Sections covered: 14.2, 14.3

Topics covered:
• limits of multivariable functions (14.2)
• showing limits do not exist (14.2)
• squeeze theorem (14.2)
• first and second order partial derivatives (14.3)
• Clairaut’s theorem (14.3)

1. Evaluate the limit lim f (x, y) or determine that it does not exist for
(x,y)!(0,0)

xy 3
(a) f (x, y) =
x2 + y 6
xy 4
(b) f (x, y) =
x2 + y 4
cos(xy) 1
(c) f (x, y) =
x2 y 2
x+y
(d) f (x, y) =
|x| + |y|
xy
(e) f (x, y) =
|x| + |y|
xy 3
(f) f (x, y) = (Hint: first show that x2 + y 4 2|x|y 2 by completing the square)
x2 + y 4
2. Consider the function g(x, y) = ln(x2 + y 2 ) defined for (x, y) 6= (0, 0).
(a) Find all second order partial derivatives of g.
@2g @2g
(b) Show that + = 0.
@x2 @y 2
3. For (x, y) 6= (0, 0), define
1
f (x, y) = cos(xy) + .
x2 + y 2
Prove that the result of Clairaut’s theorem holds in this case for (x, y) 6= (0, 0), i.e., that
@2f @2f
= .
@x@y @y@x
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Math 20C worksheet: week 7

Sections covered: 14.4, 14.5, 14.6

Topics covered:
• tangent planes (14.4)
• linear approximation (14.4)
• the gradient (14.5)
• directional derivatives (14.5)
• chain rule for paths (14.5)
• multivariable chain rule (14.6)
p
1. Determine the point(s) on the surface z = 7 x2 2y 2 at which the tangent plane to the
surface is parallel to the plane z = 2(x + y).
2. Let f (x, y) = ez (x2 + y 2 ) and r(t) = het cos t, et sin t, ti.
(a) Calculate rf and r0 (t).
d
(b) Use the Chain Rule to calculate dt f (r(t)).
d
(c) Calculate dt f (r(t)) directly by first calculating f (r(t)) and then taking the derivative.
3. Find the rate of change of f (x, y, z) = xy 2 z 3 at P = (1, 1, 1) in the direction of v = h2, 1, 1i.
4. Let f (x, y) be a function of two variables.
@f @f @f @f
(a) Calculate @u and @v in terms of @x and @y , where x = uv and y = u + v.
(b) Show that u @f
@u v @f
@v = (u v) @f
@y , where x = uv and y = u + v.