Math 2443 Homework #6

Solutions
Section 15.8
Use Lagrange Multipliers to nd the maximum and minimum values of the function subject
to the given constraint.
4. f(x, y) = 4x + 6y; x
2
+ y
2
= 13.
solution: Let g(x, y) = x
2
+ y
2
. Then, the Lagrange Multiplier Equations (f
x
= g
x
,
f
y
= g
y
and g(x, y) = 13) are
4 = 2x
6 = 2y
x
2
+ y
2
= 13.
Clearly, = 0 (as = 0 would violate the rst two equations). Thus, from the rst two
equations, we get x =
2

and y =
3

. Substituting in the last equation, we get = 1 and

thus (2, 3) are the solutions. We have
f(2, 3) = 8 + 18 = 26
f(2, 3) = 26
f(2, 3) = 8 18 = 10
f(2, 3) = 8 + 18 = 10
Thus, subject to the constraint, the maximum value of f is 26 and the minimum value is
26.
6. f(x, y) = e
xy
; x
3
+ y
3
= 16.
Solution: Let g(x, y) = x
3
+y
3
. The Lagrange Multiplier Equations (f
x
= g
x
, f
y
= g
y
and g(x, y) = 16) are
ye
xy
= 3x
2
xe
xy
= 3y
2
x
3
+ y
3
= 16.
How do we nd all solutions x, y and ? Clearly both x and y cant simultaneously be
zero (and thus = 0) since (0, 0) does not satisfy the constraint equation if x = 0, y = 0,
so we can divide the rst equation by the second equation to get
y
x
=
x
2
y
2
,
1
2 Solutions
so y
3
= x
3
, or y = x and substituting in the constraint equation, we get 2x
3
= 16 or
x = 2. Thus, y = 2 and (2, 2) is the only solution.
We have
f(2, 2) = e
4
.
Thus, subject to the constraint, the maximum value of f is e
4
and there is no minimum
value
8. f(x, y, z) = 8x 4z; x
2
+ 10y
2
+ z
2
= 5.
Solution: Let g(x, y, z) = x
2
+ 10y
2
+ z
2
. The Lagrange Multiplier Equations (f
x
=
g
x
, f
y
= g
y
, f
z
= g
z
and g(x, y, z) = 5) are
8 = 2x
0 = 20y
4 = 2z
x
2
+ 10y
2
+ z
2
= 1.
Note that = 0 since = 0 would violate the rst three equations. Hence, we get x =
4

.
Since = 0, we have y = 0 in the second equation. Also, from the third equation, we get
z =
2

. Substituting these values in the constraint equation, we get

2
+ 0 +

2
= 1.
That is,
2
= 20, so = 2

5. This means that x =

2

5
and z =
1

5
. Hence, the
solutions are (
2

5
, 0,
1

5
). We have
f(
2

5
, 0,
1

5
) = 8

4(
1

5
) =
20

5
f(
2

5
, 0,
1

5
) = 8

4(
1

5
) =
12

5
f(
2

5
, 0,
1

5
) = 8

+ 4

=
20

5
f(
2

5
, 0,
1

5
) = 8

+ 4

=
12

5
.
Thus, subject to the constraint, the maximum value of f is
20

5
and
20

5
is the minimum
value.
Math 2443 Homework #6 3
10. f(x, y, z) = x
2
y
2
z
2
; x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
= 1.
Solution: Let g(x, y, z) = x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
. Then, the Lagrange Multiplier equations (f
x
=
g
x
, f
y
= g
y
, f
z
= g
z
and g(x, y, z) = 1) are
2xy
2
z
2
= 2x
2yx
2
z
2
= 2y
2zx
2
y
2
= 2z
x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
= 1.
One way to solve this system of equations is to multiply the rst equation by x, the second
equation by y and the third equation by z. Once we do this the left-hand sides of the
new equation will all be equal. Hence the right-hand sides will be equal as well. That
is, 2x
2
y
2
z
2
= 2x
2
= 2y
2
= 2z
2
. In other words, (x
2
y
2
) = 0, (y
2
z
2
) = 0 and
(x
2
z
2
) = 0. Now, we either have = 0 or x
2
= y
2
= z
2
. If = 0, it means that the
right-hand side of each of the rst three equations is zero. That is,
xy
2
z
2
= 0
yx
2
z
2
= 0
zx
2
y
2
= 0.
Now, we have the following cases.
(i) One variable is zero, the other two are not zero.
(ii) Two variables are zero and the third non-zero. We know that all three variables
cant simultaneously be zero since (0, 0, 0) does not satisfy the constraint.
In both the above cases you get f(x, y, z) = 0 at these points.
If = 0 then x
2
= y
2
= z
2
. Substituting this in the constraint equation, we get
3x
2
= 1 and x =
1

3
and thus y =
1

3
= z. Since the function consists of all square
terms we dont nee to evaluate it all these points separately. We have
f(
1

3
,
1

3
,
1

3
) =
1
27
.
Thus, subject to the constraint, the minimum value of f is 0 and the maximum value is
1
27
.
12. f(x, y, z) = x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
; x
4
+ y
4
+ z
4
= 1.
4 Solutions
Solution: Let g(x, y, z) = x
4
+ y
4
+ z
4
. The Lagrange Multiplier Equations are
2x = 4x
3
2y = 4y
3
2z = 4z
3
x
4
+ y
4
+ z
4
= 1.
The rst three equations are identical to those obtained for a problem we did in the class.
You can nd it in the notes posted online. Again, there will be three dierent cases (one
variable zero the other two non-zero, two variables zero and the third non-zero and all of
them non-zero). I will just produce the answer here but you have to show all the steps.
The minimum value is 1 and the maximum value is

3.
18. Find the extreme values of f on the region described by the inequality
f(x, y) = 2x
2
+ 3y
2
4x 5, x
2
+ y
2
16
Solution:. There are two main steps. First, we nd the critical points of f on the interior
of the given region, then we use Lagrange multipliers to nd the extreme values of f on
the boundary.
(a) We have f
x
(x, y) = 4x4 and f
y
(x, y) = 6y. Thus, the only critical point of f is (1, 0)
and f(1, 0) = 7.
(b) Next, we nd the extreme values of f on the boundary x
2
+y
2
= 16 by using Lagrange
multiplier. Let g(x, y) = x
2
+ y
2
. Then the Lagrange Multiplier Equations (f
x
= g
x
,
f
y
= g
y
and g(x, y) = 16) are
4x 4 = 2x
6y = 2y
x
2
+ y
2
= 16.
By the second equation, we have y(3 ) = 0, so either y = 0 or = 3. If y = 0 then
by the third equation, we get x = 4. Hence (4, 0) are solutions. If = 3 then by the
rst equation, we get x = 2. From the last equation, this gives us y = 2

3. Hence
(2, 2

3) are also solutions. We calculate

f(4, 0) = 11
f(4, 0) = 43
f(2, 2

3) = 47
Comparing values from (a) and (b) we see that the maximum and minimum values of the
function f on the given region are 47 and 7 respectively.