Relative and Absolute Extrema

Math 55 - Elementray Analysis III

Institute of Mathematics
University of the Philippines
Diliman

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Recall

For a function f (x)

a is a critical number of f if either f 0 (a) = 0 or f 0 (a) does
not exist.
The relative extrema of f occurs at the critical number, i.e.
if a has a relative extremum at a, then a is a critical
number of f .
If f is continuous on a closed interval [a, b], then f attains
its abolute extrema on [a, b] at the critical points in [a, b] or
at the endpoints a and b.

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Relative and Absolute Extrema

Definition
A function f (x, y) has a
relative minimum at (a, b) if f (a, b) f (x, y);
relative maximum at (a, b) if f (a, b)

f (x, y)

for all (x, y) on some disk centered at (a, b). If the above
inequality holds for all (x, y) in the domain of f , then f has an
absolute minimum or absolute maximum at (a, b).

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Critical Point

Definition
The point (a, b) is a critical point or stationary point of
f (x, y) if either
rf (a, b) = ~0 (i.e., fx (a, b) = 0 and fy (a, b) = 0),
one of fx (a, b) or fy (a, b) does not exist.

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Relative Extrema

Theorem
If f (x, y) has a relative extremum at (a, b), then (a, b) is a
critical point of f (x, y) and in fact, rf (a, b) = ~0.
Proof. Define g(x) = f (x, b) and suppose f has a relative
extremum at (a, b). Then g(x) has relative extremum (of the
same kind) at x = a, i.e., g 0 (a) = 0. Thus, g 0 (a) = fx (a, b) = 0.
By defining h(y) = f (a, y) and using similar aruments, we have
fy (a, b) = 0.
This means rf (a, b) = ~0 and hence (a, b) is a critical point of f

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Saddle Point
Consider f (x, y) = x2

y 2 . Note that

fx (x, y) = 2x

fy (x, y) =

2y

so the only critical point of f is (0, 0).

Graph of f (x, y) = x2

y2

In this case we call (0, 0) a saddle point of f .

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Relative Extrema and Saddle point

Second Derivatives Test
Suppose (a, b) is a critical point of f (x, y), with second order
partial derivatives of f continuous on some region containing
(a, b). Define D = fxx (a, b)fyy (a, b) [fxy (a, b)]2 . Then f has
a relative minimum at (a, b) if D > 0 and fxx > 0;
a relative maximum at (a, b) if D > 0 and fxx < 0;
a saddle point at (a, b) if D < 0.
Remarks.
No conclusion can be made if D = 0.
The formula
for D can be written as the determinant of the

fxx fxy
matrix
.
fyx fyy
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Relative Extrema and Saddle point

Example
Find and classify all critical points of f (x, y) = 4 + x3 + y 3
(

3x2
3y 2

f (x, y)
Solution. Solving the system x
fy (x, y)
gives the solutions (0, 0) and (1, 1).

=0
)
=0

Note that fxx (x, y) = 6x;

fxy (x, y) =

(0, 0)
(1, 1)

fxx
0
6

fyy
0
6

fxy
3
3

fyy (x, y) = 6y;

3y
3x

3xy
=0
=0

D
0 ( 3)2 = 9
6(6) ( 3)2 = 27

Hence f (x, y) has a saddle point at (0, 0) (since

D < 0) and a relative minimum at (1, 1) (since
D > 0 and fxx > 0)

Math 55

Graph of
f (x, y) = 4 + x3 + y 3

Relative and Absolute Extrema

3xy

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Example
2

Consider the function f (x, y) = x2 ye x y .

To find the critical points, we solve the system
(
2
2
fx (x, y) = 2xy(x2 1)e x y = 0
2
2
fy (x, y) = x2 (1 2y 2 )e x y
=0
Observe that 8y, (0, y) is a solution to the system above.
fxx = 2y(2x4
2

fyy = 2x y(2y
fxy = 2x(x2

5x2 + 1)e
2

3)e

1)(2y 2

x2 y 2

x2 y 2

1)e

;
x2 y 2

Note that when x = 0, fyy (0, y) = 0

and fxy (0, y) = 0.
Thus, D = fxx (0, y)fyy (0, y)
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2 y2
Graph of f (x, y) = x2 ye x

fxy (0, y) = 0.
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Relative Extrema
Recall. If a continuous function f (x) has only one critical
number, then a relative maximum(minimum) has to be the
absolute maximum(minimum). However, this is not true for
f (x, y).
Consider f (x, y) = 3xey
is (1, 0).

x3

e3y . The only critical point of f

Observe from the graph that

f has a relative maximum at (1, 0) but it is not the absolute

maximum.
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Absolute Extrema
Definition
Let R R2 . Then R is said to be

closed if it contains all its boundary points; open if it

does not contain any of its boundary points
bounded if it can be contained in a disk (of some radius).

Theorem
If f (x, y) is continuous on some closed and bounded region
R R2 , then there exist points (x1 , y1 ), (x2 , y2 ) 2 R such that
f (x1 , y1 ) f (x, y) and f (x2 , y2 ) f (x, y) for all (x, y) 2 R, i.e.
f attains its absolute maximum and absolute minimum in R at
(x1 , y1 ) and (x2 , y2 ), resp.
Remark. If f has an absolute extremum at (x1 , y1 ), then
(x1 , y1 ) is either a critical point or a boundary point of f .
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Absolute Extrema
Example
Find the absolute minimum and maximum values of
f (x, y) = x2 2xy + 2y on the triangular region D with vertices
(0, 0), (4, 0) and (0, 2).
Solution.
We first find the critical points of f . The system
(
fx = 2x 2y = 0
has a unique solution (1, 1) 2 D.
fy = 2x + 2 = 0
Next, consider the boundary of D composed of 3 line segments:
On l1 , y = 0. Define g1 (x) = f (x, 0) = x2 .
Note that g(x) attains its extremum when
g 0 (x) = 2x = 0, i.e. at the point (0, 0) and
at the other endpoint (4, 0).

2
1

l2

l3
(1, 1)
l1

4
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Absolute Extrema
On l2 , x = 0. Define g2 (y) = f (0, y) = 2y. Note that g2 (y)
attains its extremum at the endpoints (0, 0) and (0, 2).
On l3 , y =

4 x
2 .

Define

g3 (x) = x2

2x

= 2x

x
2

5x + 4

+2

x
2

It attains its extremum when

g 0 (x) = 4x 5 = 0, i.e. at 54 , 11
8 .
So the candidates for the absolute extrema are: (1, 1), (0, 0),
(4, 0), (0, 2) and 54 , 11
8
f (1, 1) = 1
f (0, 0) = 0

f (4, 0) = 16
f (0, 2) = 4

5 11
4, 8

7
8

Hence f has a maximum value of 16 at (4, 0) and minimum

value of 0 at (0, 0).
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Exercises
1

Find and classify all critical points of

a. f (x, y) = x3 y + 12x2
b. f (x, y) = ex cos y

c. f (x, y) = xy + x 1 + y 1
2
2
d. f (x, y) = (x2 + y 2 )ey x

p
Show that 1, 22 are critical points of
f (x, y) = x2 ye

8y

x2 y 2

and classify each of them.

Find the points on the surface y 2 = 9 + xz that are closest

to the origin. What is the distance of the surface from the
origin?
Find the absolute extrema of f (x, y) = 2x3 + y 4 over the
unit disk centered at the origin.
Find the dimension of the rectangular box with largest
volume if the total surface area is 64 cm2 .

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References

Stewart, J., Calculus, Early Transcendentals, 6 ed., Thomson

Brooks/Cole, 2008

Leithold, L., The Calculus 7

Dawkins, P., Calculus 3, online notes available at

http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/

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