Name: Date
Name: Date
41. The plane x + y + 2z = 2 intersects the paraboloid z = x2 + y 2 in an ellipse. Find the points on the
ellipse that are nearest to and farthest from the origin.
4
2
0
-2
-4
-4
2
4
2 -2 0
0
-2
-2
0
-4 4
2
-2 0
2 -2
0
-4
2
4
4
Here, the two constraints are g (x, y, z) = x + y + 2z − 2 and h (x, y, z) = x2 + y 2 − z. Any critical
point that we find during the Lagrange multiplier process will satisfy both of these constraints, so we
actually don’t need to find an explicit equation for the ellipse that is their intersection.
Suppose that (x, y, z) is any point that satisfies both of q
the constraints (and hence is on the ellipse.)
2 2 2
Then the distance from (x, y, z) to the origin is given by (x − 0) + (y − 0) + (z − 0) . This expres-
sion (and its partial derivatives) would be cumbersome to work with, so we will find the the extrema
of the square of the distance. Thus, our objective function is
f (x, y, z) = x2 + y 2 + z 2
and
2x = λ + 2µx (1)
2y = λ + 2µy (2)
2z = 2λ − µ (3)
x + y + 2z = 2 (4)
2 2
x +y −z = 0 (5)
2 (x − y) = 2µ (x − y)
x+y−3 = 0
1
x2 + y 2 + = 0
2
1
however, x2 + y 2 + 2 = 0 has no solution. Thus we must have x = y.
Math 280, Intermediate Calculus, 14-8 Lagrange Multipliers
2x + 2z = 2
2
2x − z = 0
so
z = 1−x
z = 2x2
Combining these together gives us 2x2 = 1 − x, so 2x2 + x − 1 = 0 which has solutions x = 21 and
x = −1.
Further substitution yeilds the critical points 12 , 12 , 12 and (−1, −1, 2). Substituting these into our
√
3 1 1 1
√
Thus minimum distance of 2 occurs at 2, 2, 2 and the maximum distance of 6 occurs at (−1, −1, 2).