Partial Derivatives – Find the tangent line

calculusmultivariable-calculus

So I'm trying to find the tangent line of the form $(ax + by = c)$ to the level curve at point $(1,1)$ of $$f(x,y) = 3x^2y^2+2x^2-3x+2y^2$$

I'm not quite sure how to go about this.
If I take both derivatives ($f_x$ and $f_y$) and plug in the points individually it doesn't really make much sense, I was hinted towards trying implicit differentiation but that also seems a bit weird. Would appreciate some help, thanks in advance!

Best Answer

Hint:

A level curve of a surface is a curve where $f(x,y)$ is constant. Since we want the level curve that contains $(1,1)$, we plug in this point to get $f(1,1)=4$. So we want to find the line tangent to $$4=3x^2y^2+2x^2-3x+2y^2$$ through the point $(1,1)$. Now, you should use implicit differentiation to find $\frac{dy}{dx}$.

If you are looking to use the partial derivatives instead of the implicit differentiation, for a level curve $F(x,y)=k$, that $$\frac{dy}{dx}=\frac{-F_x}{F_y}.$$

Either way, once you have $\frac{dy}{dx}$, use point-slope form $y-y_0=m(x-x_0)$ to get the equation of the tangent line.

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