Math 247, Winter 2007

Instructor: Nico Spronk

Class Time and Place: 8:30-9:20 MWF (sorry!) in MC 4044.

Recommended text: We are using the Math 217-317 Lecture Notes (.pdf) produced by Volker Runde at the University of Alberta. I will arrange to have these copied and coil-bound to be sold, at cost, as Math 247 Lecture Notes at Pixel Planet (MC 2018).

There is an interesting, though extremely compact, book Calculus on Manifolds by Michael Spivak, 1965 Addison Wesley, Reading MA, which might be a recommendable supplement. Also interesting, and less compact, is the book Advanced Calculus by Gerald B. Folland, 2002 Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River NJ. Do note that neither of these books cover all of the topics we will need, but they each cover other topics which go beyond the scope of Math 247.

Office hours: TBA              Information sheet (.pdf)              Syllabus (.pdf)

Homework assignments: All files are PDF.

Assignment #1   Sample solutions

Assignment #2   Sample solutions

Assignment #3   Sample solutions

Assignment #4   Sample solutions

Assignment #5   Sample solutions
BONUS QUESTION: Find a compact set A in the real line which is its own boundary and does not have content zero. Deduce that there exists a compact connected subset of R^2 which does not have Jordan content.

Assignment #6   Sample solutions

Problem set on Implicit Function Theorem and Lagrange Multipliers. Sample solutions Notes: for question 2 (b) it is better not to use the DE. Unfortunately, I did not get around to the 2-constraint Lagrange multiplier theorem; I do not know how to do 7 (a) with only one constraint.



Final Exam: Monday, April 16, 4:00-6:30pm in PAC 6. See the Winter 2007 exam schedule (PDF).
Special Office Hours: Friday, April 13, 2-5PM. Graded assignments may be found in wooden box beside my office door.


A function which is partially differentiable but not differentiable: In Maple enter

> f:=(x,y)->x*y/(x^2+y^2);

> plot3d(f(x,y),x=-1..1,y=-1..1,axes=boxed);


to obtain

It should be clear from the picture, that no tangent plane could be placed at (0,0).

Here's another one. In Maple enter

> g:=(x,y)->x^2*y/(x^4+y^2);

> plot3d(g(x,y),x=-0.01..0.01,y=-0.01..0.01,axes=boxed);


to obtain

With a little imagination, you can see why the derictional derivatives admit the strange formula of Assignment #4. The picture doesn't quite convincingly conclude that the tangent plane does not exist at (0,0). However, you'll obtain a comaparbale picture if you continue to zoom in. This suggests that the tangent plane cannot exist (while the mathematics confirms it).


Supplement to Appendix in Lecture Notes: An easy to compute characterisation of positive definite matricies.