1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,460 The following content is provided under a Creative 2 00:00:02,460 --> 00:00:03,870 Commons license. 3 00:00:03,870 --> 00:00:06,320 Your support will help MIT OpenCourseWare 4 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:10,560 continue to offer high-quality educational resources for free. 5 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:13,300 To make a donation or view additional materials 6 00:00:13,300 --> 00:00:17,210 from hundreds of MIT courses, visit MIT OpenCourseWare 7 00:00:17,210 --> 00:00:17,862 at ocw.mit.edu. 8 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:32,240 PROFESSOR: Hi. 9 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:35,930 Our main aim today is to successfully 10 00:00:35,930 --> 00:00:39,320 conclude block three, and to set the stage 11 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:41,530 for introducing block four. 12 00:00:41,530 --> 00:00:45,730 Now by way of brief review, we may have become so involved 13 00:00:45,730 --> 00:00:48,680 with our discussion of the last few lessons 14 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:52,000 where we've done the chain rule, that we may have forgotten 15 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,360 that the basic ingredient that we had arrived at, 16 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:58,880 that set up our proof of the chain rule-- 17 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:00,441 and then after that, we got involved 18 00:01:00,441 --> 00:01:02,440 in the computation of how to use the chain rule. 19 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:04,849 But the basic ingredient was the idea 20 00:01:04,849 --> 00:01:10,140 that we had obtained a linear approximation, a delta w tan 21 00:01:10,140 --> 00:01:11,190 idea. 22 00:01:11,190 --> 00:01:14,680 And this concept leads to the idea of a differential, which 23 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,170 is an extension of the idea of differentials 24 00:01:17,170 --> 00:01:19,510 as we knew them in part one of our course. 25 00:01:19,510 --> 00:01:22,860 And what I would like to do is to talk somewhat briefly 26 00:01:22,860 --> 00:01:26,570 about this topic, to show how it introduces what 27 00:01:26,570 --> 00:01:29,200 will be the main body of material 28 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,080 in block four and an important application 29 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:35,780 that we can handle now that will show why it's worth 30 00:01:35,780 --> 00:01:38,086 understanding certain things about differentials, even 31 00:01:38,086 --> 00:01:40,130 on a very elementary level. 32 00:01:40,130 --> 00:01:42,840 At any rate, the topic that I've chosen for today 33 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,330 is called "Exact Differentials." 34 00:01:45,330 --> 00:01:47,650 And the idea, again, is completely 35 00:01:47,650 --> 00:01:50,110 analogous to what we did in calculus of a single variable. 36 00:01:50,110 --> 00:01:52,870 We start with w equals f of x, y. 37 00:01:52,870 --> 00:01:55,950 And we showed that if w was a continuously differentiable 38 00:01:55,950 --> 00:01:58,390 function of x and y, it made sense 39 00:01:58,390 --> 00:02:02,030 to emphasize the expression called delta w tan, which 40 00:02:02,030 --> 00:02:03,650 was the partial of f with respect 41 00:02:03,650 --> 00:02:05,930 to x evaluated at a given point times delta 42 00:02:05,930 --> 00:02:08,080 x, plus the partial of f with respect 43 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,090 to y at that same point times delta y. 44 00:02:11,090 --> 00:02:14,040 And what we do is the same thing that we did, 45 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:16,260 as I say, in calculus of a single variable. 46 00:02:16,260 --> 00:02:18,540 We introduce a new language. 47 00:02:18,540 --> 00:02:23,160 We write delta w tan now as dw. 48 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:29,010 We write delta x as dx, delta y as dy. 49 00:02:29,010 --> 00:02:34,650 And what we say is that dw is the total differential of w. 50 00:02:34,650 --> 00:02:37,300 To see how this is analogous to what happened in calculus 51 00:02:37,300 --> 00:02:40,450 of a single variable, notice, for the sake of argument, 52 00:02:40,450 --> 00:02:43,890 that if f happens to be a function of x alone, 53 00:02:43,890 --> 00:02:45,440 so that there is no second variable. 54 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:47,740 In other words, if f is independent of y, 55 00:02:47,740 --> 00:02:51,450 notice that the partial of f with respect to y will be 0. 56 00:02:51,450 --> 00:02:55,170 And we will then have that w is a function of x alone. 57 00:02:55,170 --> 00:02:56,830 dw, then, will be what? 58 00:02:56,830 --> 00:02:59,590 Well in that case, the partial of f with respect to x 59 00:02:59,590 --> 00:03:03,470 is the ordinary derivative of f with respect to x times dx. 60 00:03:03,470 --> 00:03:08,780 And we're back to our old recipe that dw is dw/dx times dx. 61 00:03:08,780 --> 00:03:12,040 That this is a natural extension of what happened in calculus 62 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:13,370 of a single variable. 63 00:03:13,370 --> 00:03:14,090 All right? 64 00:03:14,090 --> 00:03:15,700 Now what leads into the next block 65 00:03:15,700 --> 00:03:19,200 and why we're going to drop this for the time being but to go up 66 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:21,290 to a different aspect of this, is 67 00:03:21,290 --> 00:03:26,130 notice that if we can assume that dw can replace 68 00:03:26,130 --> 00:03:28,665 delta w-- if we can assume, as we talked 69 00:03:28,665 --> 00:03:30,040 about in the case of continuously 70 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,430 differentiable functions, that the difference between delta w 71 00:03:33,430 --> 00:03:37,010 and delta w tan is negligible for sufficiently small delta 72 00:03:37,010 --> 00:03:42,780 x and delta y, notice that the equation dw equals f sub x dx 73 00:03:42,780 --> 00:03:46,265 plus f sub y dy, since f sub x and f sub y are computed 74 00:03:46,265 --> 00:03:48,500 at a given point, these become what? 75 00:03:48,500 --> 00:03:52,900 Linear combinations of dx and dy, a constant times dx 76 00:03:52,900 --> 00:03:54,760 plus a constant times dy. 77 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:57,480 And we're into the subject of linear equations, which 78 00:03:57,480 --> 00:03:59,640 we will talk about next time. 79 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:01,490 For the time being, all I want to point out 80 00:04:01,490 --> 00:04:05,920 is that dw is called the total differential of w. 81 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:10,330 And that conversely, starting with any expression of the form 82 00:04:10,330 --> 00:04:14,430 some function M of x and y times dx plus some function 83 00:04:14,430 --> 00:04:16,600 N of x and y times dy-- in other words, 84 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,800 M of x, y dx plus N of x, y dy, no matter 85 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:22,200 what functions of x and y M and N are, 86 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:26,140 any expression of this form is called a differential. 87 00:04:26,140 --> 00:04:27,670 By the way, you may recall that you 88 00:04:27,670 --> 00:04:31,180 were used to calling dx a differential back in calculus 89 00:04:31,180 --> 00:04:32,490 of a single variable. 90 00:04:32,490 --> 00:04:35,910 Notice that in particular, one choice of capital N 91 00:04:35,910 --> 00:04:38,540 is to have N of x, y be identically 0. 92 00:04:38,540 --> 00:04:41,200 We could have M of x, y be identically 1. 93 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:46,470 In which case, M*dx plus N*dy would simply be 1*dx plus 0*dy, 94 00:04:46,470 --> 00:04:48,130 or dx. 95 00:04:48,130 --> 00:04:51,560 In other words, notice that this extended definition 96 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,430 of a differential for two or more variables 97 00:04:54,430 --> 00:04:57,820 includes the definition for a single variable. 98 00:04:57,820 --> 00:04:59,920 At any rate, any expression of this type 99 00:04:59,920 --> 00:05:01,740 is called a differential. 100 00:05:01,740 --> 00:05:03,750 And again, a very natural question that comes up 101 00:05:03,750 --> 00:05:05,250 is who wants differentials? 102 00:05:05,250 --> 00:05:06,880 Why do we need them? 103 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:10,000 And perhaps the best application comes 104 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,260 from the clue that a certain subject is 105 00:05:12,260 --> 00:05:15,370 called "Differential Equations," rather than 106 00:05:15,370 --> 00:05:17,190 derivative equations. 107 00:05:17,190 --> 00:05:20,000 Let me illustrate this in terms of what I think 108 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:21,780 is a rather nice example, in the sense 109 00:05:21,780 --> 00:05:23,610 that it will be hard to guess the answer, 110 00:05:23,610 --> 00:05:26,060 but rather easy to visualize what the problem says, 111 00:05:26,060 --> 00:05:27,077 at least. 112 00:05:27,077 --> 00:05:28,785 Let's imagine that I have a certain curve 113 00:05:28,785 --> 00:05:31,220 S in the xy-plane. 114 00:05:31,220 --> 00:05:34,030 I don't tell you anything else about that curve 115 00:05:34,030 --> 00:05:38,160 except that its slope at any point x comma y 116 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,660 is given by the very interesting relationship 117 00:05:41,660 --> 00:05:44,680 that it's the quotient of the square of its distance 118 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:49,280 from the origin over twice the product of its coordinates. 119 00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:51,525 In other words, to find the slope of the curve S 120 00:05:51,525 --> 00:05:56,720 at the point x comma y, I square the distance of the point 121 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:00,340 from the origin, take the negative of that, 122 00:06:00,340 --> 00:06:02,720 divide by twice the product of the coordinates, 123 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:04,956 and that's going to be the slope. 124 00:06:04,956 --> 00:06:06,830 Now certainly that makes sense geometrically. 125 00:06:06,830 --> 00:06:10,190 But what type of a curve would have that property? 126 00:06:10,190 --> 00:06:13,090 And even assuming that we knew such a curve, how in the world 127 00:06:13,090 --> 00:06:15,540 can you express it in a convenient manner? 128 00:06:15,540 --> 00:06:16,780 Well here's the idea. 129 00:06:16,780 --> 00:06:18,250 Again, back to the same technique 130 00:06:18,250 --> 00:06:20,240 that we used in calculus of a single variable. 131 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:23,030 Algebraically, this is our equation. 132 00:06:23,030 --> 00:06:26,260 If we cross-multiply and collect all our terms 133 00:06:26,260 --> 00:06:28,300 onto one side of the equation, we 134 00:06:28,300 --> 00:06:31,650 obtain what we call the differential equation, see? 135 00:06:31,650 --> 00:06:34,900 It's an equation involving a differential. 136 00:06:34,900 --> 00:06:38,550 In fact, in this case, using our general notation, M of x, y 137 00:06:38,550 --> 00:06:40,390 is x squared plus y squared. 138 00:06:40,390 --> 00:06:42,790 And N of x, y is 2x*y. 139 00:06:42,790 --> 00:06:45,510 We have a differential equal to 0. 140 00:06:45,510 --> 00:06:47,340 Now without going into this right now, 141 00:06:47,340 --> 00:06:50,576 suppose I just happen to have a very quick eye. 142 00:06:50,576 --> 00:06:53,280 Well in fact, before I even say that, let me point this out. 143 00:06:53,280 --> 00:06:56,020 We've had problems like this in part one of our course. 144 00:06:56,020 --> 00:06:58,660 The main difference was that we could separate out 145 00:06:58,660 --> 00:06:59,310 the variables. 146 00:06:59,310 --> 00:07:01,690 We could get the x's and the y's separated. 147 00:07:01,690 --> 00:07:04,790 Remember now, y is implicitly a function of x here, 148 00:07:04,790 --> 00:07:07,240 in this expression, because of the equation. 149 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:09,580 See? x and y are no longer independent 150 00:07:09,580 --> 00:07:11,570 when we equate this to 0. 151 00:07:11,570 --> 00:07:15,450 The question is though, we cannot separate 152 00:07:15,450 --> 00:07:17,540 the x's and the y's here. 153 00:07:17,540 --> 00:07:20,500 But if we were lucky-- that's where luck comes in-- we would 154 00:07:20,500 --> 00:07:23,790 recognize that treating y as a function of x, 155 00:07:23,790 --> 00:07:25,910 the differential on the left-hand side 156 00:07:25,910 --> 00:07:30,650 is precisely the differential of 1/3 x cubed plus x squared y. 157 00:07:30,650 --> 00:07:33,160 In other words, the partial of this with respect to x is 158 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:37,890 simply x squared-- do I have... 159 00:07:37,890 --> 00:07:40,522 I think I may have this thing in reverse. 160 00:07:40,522 --> 00:07:41,230 Let me make sure. 161 00:07:41,230 --> 00:07:44,060 If I take the partial of this with respect to x, 162 00:07:44,060 --> 00:07:48,170 I have 1/3 x cubed plus 2x*y, right? 163 00:07:48,170 --> 00:07:51,290 And if I take the partial with respect to y, 164 00:07:51,290 --> 00:07:53,455 I simply have x squared. 165 00:07:53,455 --> 00:07:55,670 At any rate-- what I'm saying is, 166 00:07:55,670 --> 00:07:58,837 if we knew a function whose-- see, I have this in reverse. 167 00:07:58,837 --> 00:08:00,170 That's what's bothering me here. 168 00:08:00,170 --> 00:08:03,051 I think the square should go this way. 169 00:08:03,051 --> 00:08:03,925 That's not important. 170 00:08:03,925 --> 00:08:05,780 All I'm saying is if I've done this thing correctly, 171 00:08:05,780 --> 00:08:07,710 if you take the partial of this with respect 172 00:08:07,710 --> 00:08:11,220 to y-- with respect x, you should get this. 173 00:08:11,220 --> 00:08:13,887 If you take the partial of this with respect to y, 174 00:08:13,887 --> 00:08:14,720 you should get this. 175 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:16,350 And that comes out correctly now. 176 00:08:16,350 --> 00:08:19,220 In other words, the partial of this with respect to x 177 00:08:19,220 --> 00:08:21,350 is x squared plus y squared. 178 00:08:21,350 --> 00:08:25,250 The partial of this with respect to y-- this term drops out, 179 00:08:25,250 --> 00:08:26,670 and there's just 2x*y. 180 00:08:26,670 --> 00:08:28,330 I'm sorry for that little mistake. 181 00:08:28,330 --> 00:08:31,000 But I won't really apologize for it in the sense 182 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:34,559 that once we've found it-- or even if we didn't find it, 183 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:35,820 the key theory is the same. 184 00:08:35,820 --> 00:08:39,850 The point is that if we knew a function whose differential was 185 00:08:39,850 --> 00:08:43,110 this, then the fact that this differential is 0 186 00:08:43,110 --> 00:08:46,760 means the expression itself must be a constant. 187 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:54,570 In other words, 1/3 x cubed plus x y squared must be a constant. 188 00:08:54,570 --> 00:08:58,520 And therefore, what we're saying is if we now 189 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,525 solve the equation-- I really am sorry to have 190 00:09:01,525 --> 00:09:02,400 botched this for you. 191 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:05,060 But again, as I say, the idea basically 192 00:09:05,060 --> 00:09:06,440 comes through unimpeded. 193 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:10,080 I now solve for y in terms of x, and I get what? 194 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:13,460 That y is equal to-- transposing here-- 195 00:09:13,460 --> 00:09:16,720 plus or minus the square root of c minus 1/3 x 196 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:18,960 cubed, all over x. 197 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:21,330 In other words, the family of curves 198 00:09:21,330 --> 00:09:24,900 that satisfies this differential equation 199 00:09:24,900 --> 00:09:27,714 is precisely this family here, whatever that may look like. 200 00:09:27,714 --> 00:09:29,130 In other words, this is the family 201 00:09:29,130 --> 00:09:32,110 of curves that has the interesting slope property 202 00:09:32,110 --> 00:09:33,495 that we just discussed. 203 00:09:33,495 --> 00:09:35,350 Now you see, again, the reason I say 204 00:09:35,350 --> 00:09:37,340 that I wasn't too concerned about what 205 00:09:37,340 --> 00:09:39,720 this function actually was is, notice 206 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,580 that I was just pulling it out of the hat for you here anyway. 207 00:09:42,580 --> 00:09:45,620 I said suppose we could find a function w such 208 00:09:45,620 --> 00:09:47,800 that dw was this. 209 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:51,950 The major question that comes up in how one uses differentials 210 00:09:51,950 --> 00:09:54,990 and the like is as follows. 211 00:09:54,990 --> 00:09:58,440 Suppose all I told you was that we had the differential x 212 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:02,620 squared plus y squared dx plus 2x*y*dy, and I said to you, 213 00:10:02,620 --> 00:10:07,390 find a function w such that dw will be x squared plus y 214 00:10:07,390 --> 00:10:10,590 squared dx plus 2x*y*dy. 215 00:10:10,590 --> 00:10:14,740 The key computational aid in doing this involves the fact 216 00:10:14,740 --> 00:10:16,670 that if u and v are independent variables-- 217 00:10:16,670 --> 00:10:18,550 and it's crucial that they be independent-- 218 00:10:18,550 --> 00:10:22,580 that if a*u plus b*v equals c*u plus d*v, 219 00:10:22,580 --> 00:10:27,780 it must be that a equals c, and b equals d. 220 00:10:27,780 --> 00:10:31,360 In other words, the only way that two linear combinations 221 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:33,860 of independent variables can be equal 222 00:10:33,860 --> 00:10:37,310 is if they're equal coefficient by coefficient. 223 00:10:37,310 --> 00:10:39,150 You see, the proof is very simple. 224 00:10:39,150 --> 00:10:42,540 Namely, after all, if u and v are independent variables, 225 00:10:42,540 --> 00:10:47,660 why can't I pick v to be 0, let u be any non-zero number. 226 00:10:47,660 --> 00:10:50,500 Then if v is 0, when I equate these two, 227 00:10:50,500 --> 00:10:52,740 it says a*u equals c*u. 228 00:10:52,740 --> 00:10:56,550 Since u is not 0, I can cancel, and obtain that a equals c. 229 00:10:56,550 --> 00:11:00,690 And in a similar way letting u equal 0, I have b*v equals d*v. 230 00:11:00,690 --> 00:11:03,620 I can cancel the v's and get that b equals d. 231 00:11:03,620 --> 00:11:06,410 But it's crucial that u and v be independent. 232 00:11:06,410 --> 00:11:08,440 Because if u and v are not independent, 233 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:13,320 how do I know that I can have u equal to 0 when v is not 0? 234 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:16,470 For example, let's suppose that v and u were dependent. 235 00:11:16,470 --> 00:11:19,500 Suppose, for example, that v equals twice u. 236 00:11:19,500 --> 00:11:25,410 Observe, in this case, that 9u plus 4v-- since v is 2u-- 237 00:11:25,410 --> 00:11:27,540 turns out to be 17u. 238 00:11:27,540 --> 00:11:34,570 On the other hand, 7u plus 5v is 7u plus 10u, which is also 17u. 239 00:11:34,570 --> 00:11:39,410 Notice that 9u plus 4v equals 7u plus 5v, 240 00:11:39,410 --> 00:11:42,780 even though the coefficients don't line up as far 241 00:11:42,780 --> 00:11:45,540 as being equal is concerned. 242 00:11:45,540 --> 00:11:46,200 You see? 243 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:49,130 In other words, notice that being able to equate things 244 00:11:49,130 --> 00:11:51,860 coefficient by coefficient hinges on the fact 245 00:11:51,860 --> 00:11:54,740 that the variables that we're dealing with are independent. 246 00:11:54,740 --> 00:11:56,810 And the key thing going back to this problem 247 00:11:56,810 --> 00:11:58,780 is, what were dx and dy? 248 00:11:58,780 --> 00:12:00,800 They were delta x and delta y. 249 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:03,620 And as long as x and y are independent variables, 250 00:12:03,620 --> 00:12:07,185 certainly the change in x can be done independently 251 00:12:07,185 --> 00:12:08,670 of the change in y. 252 00:12:08,670 --> 00:12:12,540 In other words, dx and dy are independent variables. 253 00:12:12,540 --> 00:12:17,550 So if we now say, let's find that function w such that dw is 254 00:12:17,550 --> 00:12:23,550 x squared plus y squared dx plus 2x*y*dy, 255 00:12:23,550 --> 00:12:26,650 the one thing we know about dw, if it exists, 256 00:12:26,650 --> 00:12:30,070 by our basic definition of this section of this lecture, 257 00:12:30,070 --> 00:12:34,530 is that dw is the partial of f with respect to x times dx plus 258 00:12:34,530 --> 00:12:37,540 the partial of f with respect to y times dy. 259 00:12:37,540 --> 00:12:40,420 Since dx and dy are independent variables, 260 00:12:40,420 --> 00:12:43,170 the only way these two expressions can be identical 261 00:12:43,170 --> 00:12:45,170 is coefficient by coefficient. 262 00:12:45,170 --> 00:12:47,230 That means in particular, therefore, 263 00:12:47,230 --> 00:12:48,740 that the partial of f with respect 264 00:12:48,740 --> 00:12:51,750 to x, which is the coefficient of dx here, 265 00:12:51,750 --> 00:12:53,670 must be x squared plus y squared, which 266 00:12:53,670 --> 00:12:55,350 is the coefficient of dx here. 267 00:12:55,350 --> 00:12:58,990 And similarly, the partial of f with respect to y must equal 268 00:12:58,990 --> 00:13:00,800 2x*y. 269 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:03,030 Now, armed with this information, 270 00:13:03,030 --> 00:13:05,750 I can actually go out and construct f. 271 00:13:05,750 --> 00:13:07,420 And the way I do this is remember-- 272 00:13:07,420 --> 00:13:10,170 as soon as I see the partial of f with respect to x, 273 00:13:10,170 --> 00:13:12,460 it means I'm treating y as a constant. 274 00:13:12,460 --> 00:13:16,170 If I'm treating y as a constant, I just integrate this thing 275 00:13:16,170 --> 00:13:18,080 as if x were the only variable. 276 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,820 Treating x as a variable and y as a constant, 277 00:13:20,820 --> 00:13:23,680 the integral of x squared is 1/3 x cubed. 278 00:13:23,680 --> 00:13:25,830 The integral of y squared is simply 279 00:13:25,830 --> 00:13:29,160 y squared x, because y is being treated as a constant. 280 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:33,180 And finally, there must be a constant of integration, 281 00:13:33,180 --> 00:13:36,460 but my constant now is any function of y. 282 00:13:36,460 --> 00:13:38,700 In other words, if I have any function 283 00:13:38,700 --> 00:13:42,360 of y, its partial with respect to x, by definition of x and y 284 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:44,890 being independent-- the partial of any function 285 00:13:44,890 --> 00:13:46,890 of y with respect to x is 0. 286 00:13:46,890 --> 00:13:49,640 Therefore my constant of integration, in this case, 287 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:51,349 is a function of y alone. 288 00:13:51,349 --> 00:13:53,640 Again, to look at this in a different perspective, what 289 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:55,920 I'm saying is the most general function 290 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:57,910 of two variables in the whole world 291 00:13:57,910 --> 00:13:59,760 whose derivative with respect to x 292 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:04,020 is x squared plus y squared is 1/3 x cubed plus y squared 293 00:14:04,020 --> 00:14:07,410 x plus a function of y alone. 294 00:14:07,410 --> 00:14:11,920 Now all I don't know so far is what specific function of y 295 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:13,400 is g? 296 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:15,620 In other words, I've determined f now up 297 00:14:15,620 --> 00:14:20,940 to this particular arbitrary constant of integration. 298 00:14:20,940 --> 00:14:22,850 How do I get a hold of this thing? 299 00:14:22,850 --> 00:14:26,340 Notice that as yet, I have not used a piece of information 300 00:14:26,340 --> 00:14:30,020 that tells me the partial of f with respect to y is 2x*y. 301 00:14:30,020 --> 00:14:32,320 And to utilize that piece of information, what I do 302 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:34,570 is I come to this equation, and I say, lookit. 303 00:14:34,570 --> 00:14:37,720 Let me, from here, just differentiate this with respect 304 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:39,880 to y, treating x as a constant. 305 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:42,070 If I do that, this term drops out. 306 00:14:42,070 --> 00:14:44,250 This term becomes 2x*y. 307 00:14:44,250 --> 00:14:46,910 And this, being a function of y alone, 308 00:14:46,910 --> 00:14:49,940 its derivative with respect to y is just g prime of y. 309 00:14:49,940 --> 00:14:55,810 So whatever f is, the derivative of f with respect to y is 2x*y 310 00:14:55,810 --> 00:14:57,640 plus g prime of y. 311 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,310 On the other hand, we also know that the partial of f with 312 00:15:00,310 --> 00:15:02,860 respect to y is 2x*y. 313 00:15:02,860 --> 00:15:05,640 Consequently, since these are two different expressions 314 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:09,040 for the same quantity, they must be equal. 315 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:12,210 Equating these two, the 2x*y's cancel. 316 00:15:12,210 --> 00:15:16,060 We obtain that g prime of y is 0, which means, in this case, 317 00:15:16,060 --> 00:15:18,960 that g of y was a bona fide constant, that not 318 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:22,702 only is g independent of x, it's also independent of y. 319 00:15:22,702 --> 00:15:24,410 And we see that the most general function 320 00:15:24,410 --> 00:15:27,410 f which has the desired property is what? 321 00:15:27,410 --> 00:15:30,560 All we have to do is now go back to this expression here, 322 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:34,140 which gave us the answer up to g of y, 323 00:15:34,140 --> 00:15:37,780 put this value of g of y in, and we see that the most general 324 00:15:37,780 --> 00:15:42,530 function whose total differential is x squared plus 325 00:15:42,530 --> 00:15:48,070 y squared dx plus 2x*y*dy is 1/3 x cubed plus y squared x plus 326 00:15:48,070 --> 00:15:48,660 c. 327 00:15:48,660 --> 00:15:51,700 And I guess there's a moral to this story, after all. 328 00:15:51,700 --> 00:15:52,200 You know? 329 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:53,690 When I did it the quick way, I made 330 00:15:53,690 --> 00:15:55,910 a careless computational mistake earlier 331 00:15:55,910 --> 00:15:58,220 in the lecture that sort of threw me off a bit 332 00:15:58,220 --> 00:15:59,640 and perplexed me. 333 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:03,520 And it seems it was poetic justice. 334 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:05,360 Because, you know, when I took this method 335 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:07,900 where we pretended we didn't know the answer in advance 336 00:16:07,900 --> 00:16:10,270 and just worked the thing out systematically, 337 00:16:10,270 --> 00:16:12,150 we came up with the right term. 338 00:16:12,150 --> 00:16:15,810 In other words, it should be y squared x, not y x squared. 339 00:16:15,810 --> 00:16:19,417 And that was what we saw should be the correct answer. 340 00:16:19,417 --> 00:16:21,750 So maybe there's something to be said about doing things 341 00:16:21,750 --> 00:16:23,870 systematically, after all. 342 00:16:23,870 --> 00:16:24,370 You see? 343 00:16:24,370 --> 00:16:25,810 If I can't win them all, at least 344 00:16:25,810 --> 00:16:29,780 I have the gift of rationalizing to think that I win them all. 345 00:16:29,780 --> 00:16:34,320 Time after time, I snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. 346 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:34,820 No? 347 00:16:34,820 --> 00:16:35,330 All right. 348 00:16:35,330 --> 00:16:36,240 You know what I mean. 349 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:36,890 Lookit. 350 00:16:36,890 --> 00:16:40,200 Anyway, the question that we've now solved is what? 351 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:42,180 We have worked out this routine. 352 00:16:42,180 --> 00:16:44,560 Notice that what we are really doing 353 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:48,220 is the counterpart of calculus of a single variable, that 354 00:16:48,220 --> 00:16:51,680 knowing what a partial is, we can integrate with respect 355 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:54,440 to that variable, treating all the other variables 356 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:55,650 as a constant. 357 00:16:55,650 --> 00:16:57,690 And this is the general technique. 358 00:16:57,690 --> 00:17:00,250 Now let's summarize this more generally. 359 00:17:00,250 --> 00:17:01,760 The general definition is this. 360 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:05,579 And by the way, for the sake of conserving space, I will now 361 00:17:05,579 --> 00:17:09,619 abbreviate M of x, y and N of x, y just by M and N. 362 00:17:09,619 --> 00:17:11,270 But whenever I write M and N here, 363 00:17:11,270 --> 00:17:14,339 it's assumed that M and N are functions of x and y. 364 00:17:14,339 --> 00:17:15,420 Well what we say is this. 365 00:17:15,420 --> 00:17:18,170 M*dx plus N*dy, which by the way, 366 00:17:18,170 --> 00:17:21,510 by a previous definition is always a differential. 367 00:17:21,510 --> 00:17:25,380 But this differential is called an exact differential 368 00:17:25,380 --> 00:17:30,010 if and only if there exists a function w-- f of x, y-- 369 00:17:30,010 --> 00:17:33,720 such that dw is M*dx plus N*dy. 370 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,340 Or in terms of our previous discussion, 371 00:17:37,340 --> 00:17:38,790 what this means is what? 372 00:17:38,790 --> 00:17:45,330 dw is also equal to f sub x dx plus f sub y dy. 373 00:17:45,330 --> 00:17:47,410 Since x and y are independent variables, 374 00:17:47,410 --> 00:17:49,520 dx and dy are independent variables. 375 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:51,870 So an alternative definition is what? 376 00:17:51,870 --> 00:17:55,940 That M*dx plus N*dy is an exact differential if there exists 377 00:17:55,940 --> 00:17:59,950 a function f such that the partial of f with respect to x 378 00:17:59,950 --> 00:18:04,310 is M, and the partial of f with respect to y is N. 379 00:18:04,310 --> 00:18:07,190 Now, by the way, let's just pause here for a moment. 380 00:18:07,190 --> 00:18:09,700 You might suspect that with all the functions 381 00:18:09,700 --> 00:18:12,920 to choose from, that no matter how M and N were given, 382 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:17,235 we're bound to find at least one function which satisfies-- 383 00:18:17,235 --> 00:18:18,610 I should put this in, because you 384 00:18:18,610 --> 00:18:21,340 want both of these conditions fulfilled at the same time. 385 00:18:21,340 --> 00:18:24,260 The amazing thing is that it is not always 386 00:18:24,260 --> 00:18:27,240 possible to find a function which 387 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:31,040 has a given differential as its total differential. 388 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:33,570 In fact, let me show you why, if we can just do something 389 00:18:33,570 --> 00:18:34,990 a little bit tricky here. 390 00:18:34,990 --> 00:18:37,630 Let's suppose that the function f exists such 391 00:18:37,630 --> 00:18:39,100 that its partial with respect to x 392 00:18:39,100 --> 00:18:41,190 is M and its partial with respect to y 393 00:18:41,190 --> 00:18:45,640 is N. Suppose that both of these happen to be differentiable. 394 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,520 Take the partial of f sub x with respect to y. 395 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:51,980 That tells me that f sub x, y is the partial of M 396 00:18:51,980 --> 00:18:54,010 with respect to y. 397 00:18:54,010 --> 00:18:57,860 Let's take the partial of f sub y with respect to x. 398 00:18:57,860 --> 00:19:00,160 That tells me that the partial of f sub y with respect 399 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:02,070 to x is N sub x. 400 00:19:02,070 --> 00:19:04,820 In other words, f sub y, x equals N sub x. 401 00:19:04,820 --> 00:19:08,100 Now if f is continuous-- see, if we 402 00:19:08,100 --> 00:19:09,605 have the right amount of continuity 403 00:19:09,605 --> 00:19:11,230 and differentiability that we've talked 404 00:19:11,230 --> 00:19:13,670 about in previous lectures, notice 405 00:19:13,670 --> 00:19:16,690 that for most well-defined functions-- in particular, 406 00:19:16,690 --> 00:19:19,430 if these two partials-- see, we don't know what f is. 407 00:19:19,430 --> 00:19:20,790 We're trying to find f. 408 00:19:20,790 --> 00:19:22,034 And we're assuming it exists. 409 00:19:22,034 --> 00:19:23,700 The thing that's given in our definition 410 00:19:23,700 --> 00:19:26,900 are M and N. So to word this more succinctly, if it turns 411 00:19:26,900 --> 00:19:29,570 out that the partial of M with respect to y 412 00:19:29,570 --> 00:19:31,750 and the partial of N with respect to x 413 00:19:31,750 --> 00:19:34,550 happen to be continuous functions, 414 00:19:34,550 --> 00:19:37,820 notice that these two things are equal. 415 00:19:37,820 --> 00:19:40,690 And in particular, that means that the partial of M 416 00:19:40,690 --> 00:19:43,440 with respect to y has to equal the partial of N 417 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:44,940 with respect to x. 418 00:19:44,940 --> 00:19:47,490 Coming back to the original definition here, 419 00:19:47,490 --> 00:19:49,290 this is a rather amazing thing. 420 00:19:49,290 --> 00:19:52,060 It says that if this differential is exact, 421 00:19:52,060 --> 00:19:55,450 if you take the coefficient of dx-- 422 00:19:55,450 --> 00:19:58,265 see, think of M as being the coefficient of dx and N 423 00:19:58,265 --> 00:20:00,450 as being the coefficient of dy. 424 00:20:00,450 --> 00:20:02,870 If you take the coefficient of dx 425 00:20:02,870 --> 00:20:05,390 and differentiate that with respect to y, 426 00:20:05,390 --> 00:20:08,360 you must get the same answer as if you 427 00:20:08,360 --> 00:20:11,790 took the coefficient of dy and differentiated that 428 00:20:11,790 --> 00:20:13,160 with respect to x. 429 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:15,440 That's an amazing coincidence if that happens. 430 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:19,020 Given two arbitrary functions, this indeed won't happen. 431 00:20:19,020 --> 00:20:21,560 Now before I show you that, let's summarize this 432 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:23,900 in words written down so that I make sure 433 00:20:23,900 --> 00:20:26,260 that you understand what I'm saying. 434 00:20:26,260 --> 00:20:28,880 What I'm saying is, if the partial of M with respect to y 435 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:32,220 and the partial of N with respect to x are continuous, 436 00:20:32,220 --> 00:20:37,470 then if M*dx plus N*dy is exact, the implication is that 437 00:20:37,470 --> 00:20:40,820 the partial of M with respect to y must equal the partial of N 438 00:20:40,820 --> 00:20:42,100 with respect to x. 439 00:20:42,100 --> 00:20:47,130 And to invert the emphasis here, another way of saying this is 440 00:20:47,130 --> 00:20:50,290 that if the partial of M with respect to y is not equal 441 00:20:50,290 --> 00:20:52,310 to the partial of N with respect to x, 442 00:20:52,310 --> 00:20:55,860 then M*dx plus N*dy is not exact. 443 00:20:55,860 --> 00:20:58,690 And let me show you that by means of an example. 444 00:20:58,690 --> 00:21:01,890 Let's look at the differential-- a very simple-looking one. 445 00:21:01,890 --> 00:21:05,600 In fact, it looks far less complicated than the expression 446 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:07,610 that we worked with previously. 447 00:21:07,610 --> 00:21:10,720 Let's look simply at y*dx minus x*dy. 448 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:14,070 In this problem, the coefficient of dx is y. 449 00:21:14,070 --> 00:21:19,050 That plays the role of M. The coefficient of dy is minus x. 450 00:21:19,050 --> 00:21:21,450 That's what we're calling N, you see. 451 00:21:21,450 --> 00:21:24,060 And the partial of M with respect to y 452 00:21:24,060 --> 00:21:27,040 is just the partial of y with respect to y, which is 1. 453 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:29,400 The partial of N with respect to x 454 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:33,120 is the partial of minus x with respect to x, which is minus 1. 455 00:21:33,120 --> 00:21:36,542 Since 1 is not equal to minus 1, this is not exact. 456 00:21:36,542 --> 00:21:38,375 Because if it were exact, these two partials 457 00:21:38,375 --> 00:21:39,600 would have to be equal. 458 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:41,800 What does it mean to say that this is not exact? 459 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,130 What it means is that there is not 460 00:21:44,130 --> 00:21:46,550 a single function in the whole world that 461 00:21:46,550 --> 00:21:50,250 has the property that its partial with respect to x is y, 462 00:21:50,250 --> 00:21:53,280 and it's partial with respect to y is minus x. 463 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:56,040 You can look forever. 464 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:58,800 And not only won't you find one, there isn't one. 465 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:01,470 And by the way, let me make one very quick aside here. 466 00:22:01,470 --> 00:22:04,080 Notice the difference between saying you can't find one, 467 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:05,250 and there isn't one. 468 00:22:05,250 --> 00:22:06,940 There may be one, and you're just not 469 00:22:06,940 --> 00:22:08,444 lucky enough to find it. 470 00:22:08,444 --> 00:22:10,860 I'm saying that the reason you don't find an answer here-- 471 00:22:10,860 --> 00:22:13,750 unless you make a mistake and think you've found an answer-- 472 00:22:13,750 --> 00:22:16,320 the reason you don't find an answer is there is none. 473 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:18,310 And how can I show you that there is none? 474 00:22:18,310 --> 00:22:20,320 Well the best way is to do the same thing 475 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:22,220 that we did in the previous example, 476 00:22:22,220 --> 00:22:23,970 and see something go wrong. 477 00:22:23,970 --> 00:22:25,810 Let's suppose there were an answer to this. 478 00:22:25,810 --> 00:22:29,350 Well if the partial of f with respect to x equals y, 479 00:22:29,350 --> 00:22:31,330 let me integrate this with respect 480 00:22:31,330 --> 00:22:33,470 to x, treating y as a constant. 481 00:22:33,470 --> 00:22:35,760 It means that the function that I'm looking for 482 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:37,140 must have what form? 483 00:22:37,140 --> 00:22:41,500 It's x times y plus some function of y alone. 484 00:22:41,500 --> 00:22:43,570 And now we say, gee, we're in pretty good shape. 485 00:22:43,570 --> 00:22:46,730 All we've got to do is find what g of y is, and we're home free. 486 00:22:46,730 --> 00:22:49,210 Let's continue to mimic what we did before. 487 00:22:49,210 --> 00:22:52,090 Knowing this, I can take the partial of this with respect 488 00:22:52,090 --> 00:22:53,860 to y, OK? 489 00:22:53,860 --> 00:22:54,860 Which is what? 490 00:22:54,860 --> 00:22:58,230 If I take the partial of this with respect to y, 491 00:22:58,230 --> 00:23:04,830 this is f sub y is x plus g prime of y. 492 00:23:04,830 --> 00:23:06,050 All right? 493 00:23:06,050 --> 00:23:07,850 Now this is the partial of f with respect 494 00:23:07,850 --> 00:23:10,010 to y, computed from here. 495 00:23:10,010 --> 00:23:12,750 I know by hypothesis that the function I'm looking for 496 00:23:12,750 --> 00:23:15,580 must have its partial with respect to y equal to this. 497 00:23:15,580 --> 00:23:18,780 Consequently, these two expressions must be equal. 498 00:23:18,780 --> 00:23:20,840 And equating these two expressions says 499 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,080 that g prime of y-- see, x plus g prime of y 500 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:25,550 must equal minus x. 501 00:23:25,550 --> 00:23:29,660 Transposing says that g prime of y is minus 2x. 502 00:23:29,660 --> 00:23:30,880 And this is a contradiction. 503 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,930 Because lookit, g prime of y is a function of y alone. 504 00:23:33,930 --> 00:23:36,780 And here we have it equal to some function of x. 505 00:23:36,780 --> 00:23:38,730 Or another way of looking at it, this 506 00:23:38,730 --> 00:23:42,590 says that x depends on y. x is some function of y, which 507 00:23:42,590 --> 00:23:46,330 is a contradiction since we assumed that x and y are 508 00:23:46,330 --> 00:23:48,400 independent variables. 509 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:51,470 By the way, just as a quick aside, 510 00:23:51,470 --> 00:23:54,910 notice that in the case where we were able to succeed at this-- 511 00:23:54,910 --> 00:23:59,570 namely the previous example, x squared plus y dx plus 2x*y*dy, 512 00:23:59,570 --> 00:24:03,010 M was x squared plus y squared, N was 2x*y. 513 00:24:03,010 --> 00:24:07,270 Notice that the partial of M with respect to y is 2y. 514 00:24:07,270 --> 00:24:11,800 And the partial of N with respect to x is also 2y. 515 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:14,240 So it seems that the deciding factor really 516 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:17,530 seems to be that the partial of M with respect to y 517 00:24:17,530 --> 00:24:20,100 has to equal the partial of N with respect to x. 518 00:24:20,100 --> 00:24:22,552 And the major result is-- and I didn't write this in, 519 00:24:22,552 --> 00:24:24,510 because I didn't want to use up too much space. 520 00:24:24,510 --> 00:24:27,700 But this is emphasized in the text and in the exercises. 521 00:24:27,700 --> 00:24:34,870 If M, N, M sub y, and N sub x all exist and are continuous, 522 00:24:34,870 --> 00:24:40,240 then not only can we say that M*dx plus N*dy is exact implies 523 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,640 this part, but we can do the converse too. 524 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:46,860 That in particular, if M sub y equals N sub x, 525 00:24:46,860 --> 00:24:48,914 we can conclude that this is exact. 526 00:24:48,914 --> 00:24:50,330 And the reason for this-- and I'll 527 00:24:50,330 --> 00:24:52,371 go through this very quickly because the proof is 528 00:24:52,371 --> 00:24:53,464 given in the text. 529 00:24:53,464 --> 00:24:55,880 I just want to show you the highlights of what happens is, 530 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,090 what really happened when we tried 531 00:24:58,090 --> 00:25:01,270 to construct f that made things work in one case 532 00:25:01,270 --> 00:25:02,480 but not in the other? 533 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:05,200 I think the best way to do this is to work abstractly 534 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,070 here without specifying what M and N are, 535 00:25:08,070 --> 00:25:09,420 and see what happens. 536 00:25:09,420 --> 00:25:12,490 What we were trying to solve was a pair of equations-- 537 00:25:12,490 --> 00:25:15,140 we were trying to find f such that the partial of f 538 00:25:15,140 --> 00:25:17,970 with respect to x is M, partial of f with respect to y 539 00:25:17,970 --> 00:25:20,080 is N. The first thing that we did 540 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:23,140 was we treated y as a constant and integrated this 541 00:25:23,140 --> 00:25:24,650 with respect to x. 542 00:25:24,650 --> 00:25:26,680 Well, I can't do this specifically, 543 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:28,050 because I don't know what M is. 544 00:25:28,050 --> 00:25:31,095 So let me just put the integral sign in here to say what? 545 00:25:31,095 --> 00:25:32,470 I'm integrating this with respect 546 00:25:32,470 --> 00:25:34,480 to x, treating y as a constant. 547 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:37,150 That's some function of x and y, you see over here. 548 00:25:37,150 --> 00:25:38,800 See M is a function of x and y. 549 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:39,840 I'm holding y constant. 550 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:40,890 I'm integrating this. 551 00:25:40,890 --> 00:25:45,000 Plus a constant of integration which depends only on y. 552 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:45,500 All right? 553 00:25:45,500 --> 00:25:46,760 Same as before. 554 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:48,080 What was my next step? 555 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:52,470 I took the partial of this with respect to y, 556 00:25:52,470 --> 00:25:54,500 and I was going to compare that with what 557 00:25:54,500 --> 00:25:56,420 I knew the partial of f with respect to y 558 00:25:56,420 --> 00:25:59,440 had to be-- namely, N. So I then took what? 559 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:01,530 The partial of this with respect to y. 560 00:26:01,530 --> 00:26:04,040 That gave me the partial of this integral with respect 561 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:06,510 to y plus g prime of y. 562 00:26:06,510 --> 00:26:10,070 And equating that to N, I get that g prime of y 563 00:26:10,070 --> 00:26:14,390 was N minus the partial with respect to y integral M dx. 564 00:26:14,390 --> 00:26:17,200 And again, don't be alarmed by this expression. 565 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:19,550 If M had been given explicitly, I 566 00:26:19,550 --> 00:26:22,530 would have solved explicitly for what this function was. 567 00:26:22,530 --> 00:26:26,570 The key point is to notice that this side here 568 00:26:26,570 --> 00:26:29,120 is independent of x. 569 00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:32,250 Consequently, this equation will be a contradiction 570 00:26:32,250 --> 00:26:37,500 unless the right-hand side is independent of x. 571 00:26:37,500 --> 00:26:39,820 In other words, we have determined f up 572 00:26:39,820 --> 00:26:42,450 to this function g of y. 573 00:26:42,450 --> 00:26:44,570 And what's going to happen is we are 574 00:26:44,570 --> 00:26:46,670 going to be able to compute g of y 575 00:26:46,670 --> 00:26:49,140 if this expression is independent of x, namely just 576 00:26:49,140 --> 00:26:50,270 by integrating this. 577 00:26:50,270 --> 00:26:56,070 But if g of y is not independent of x, we are in trouble. 578 00:26:56,070 --> 00:26:57,880 It means that it's not going to exist. 579 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,880 The key step is, is this independent of x? 580 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:03,710 And the answer is, the best way to find out 581 00:27:03,710 --> 00:27:06,820 in terms of calculus is to take its derivative with respect 582 00:27:06,820 --> 00:27:07,570 to x. 583 00:27:07,570 --> 00:27:11,300 If this depends on y alone, its partial with respect to x 584 00:27:11,300 --> 00:27:12,600 must be 0. 585 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:15,570 In other words, if this partial with respect to x is not 0, 586 00:27:15,570 --> 00:27:18,080 it means that this expression varies with x. 587 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,720 At any rate, to see what this derivative is, 588 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,770 we just differentiate term by term. 589 00:27:23,770 --> 00:27:24,990 And then we say, you know? 590 00:27:24,990 --> 00:27:26,540 It's rather interesting. 591 00:27:26,540 --> 00:27:31,530 If this thing had been first-- notice that if you integrate 592 00:27:31,530 --> 00:27:33,445 with respect to x and then differentiate 593 00:27:33,445 --> 00:27:37,150 with respect to x, you wind up with just the integrand. 594 00:27:37,150 --> 00:27:40,360 Well again, if we have enough continuity, 595 00:27:40,360 --> 00:27:43,020 the order of differentiation is irrelevant. 596 00:27:43,020 --> 00:27:45,690 We can reverse the order without changing anything 597 00:27:45,690 --> 00:27:47,820 if we now interchange this order, 598 00:27:47,820 --> 00:27:50,230 take the partial first with respect to x. 599 00:27:50,230 --> 00:27:52,640 That will give us just M. And the partial 600 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:54,800 of M with respect to y is just the partial of M 601 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:56,180 with respect for y, of course. 602 00:27:56,180 --> 00:27:58,930 What we're saying is that from this step, we get to this step. 603 00:27:58,930 --> 00:28:00,920 And this in turn implies this. 604 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:04,940 Notice that the only way that this can be 0 605 00:28:04,940 --> 00:28:07,510 is if the partial of N with respect to x 606 00:28:07,510 --> 00:28:10,630 equals the partial of M with respect to y. 607 00:28:10,630 --> 00:28:14,850 So in summary then, this is a very interesting device. 608 00:28:14,850 --> 00:28:19,000 It tells us how to tell whether a differential is exact. 609 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:20,950 And the proof is very nice in this case 610 00:28:20,950 --> 00:28:24,290 because the proof exactly imitates 611 00:28:24,290 --> 00:28:28,020 how we construct the function f if it turns out to be exact. 612 00:28:28,020 --> 00:28:31,880 But the point is, if given M*dx plus N*dy, 613 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,240 if the partial of M with respect to y is not equal 614 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:35,920 to the partial of N with respect to x, 615 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:39,330 there's no hope that the function will be exact-- 616 00:28:39,330 --> 00:28:41,160 the differential be exact. 617 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:45,220 At any rate, we will have sufficient exercises 618 00:28:45,220 --> 00:28:48,670 for drill in how one uses exact differentials. 619 00:28:48,670 --> 00:28:52,180 This concludes block three of our material. 620 00:28:52,180 --> 00:28:54,670 Our next block of material which will 621 00:28:54,670 --> 00:28:57,690 concern linear systems of equations 622 00:28:57,690 --> 00:28:59,710 will begin with our next lecture. 623 00:28:59,710 --> 00:29:03,500 And until next time, goodbye. 624 00:29:03,500 --> 00:29:05,880 Funding for the publication of this video 625 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:10,750 was provided by the Gabriella and Paul Rosenbaum Foundation. 626 00:29:10,750 --> 00:29:14,920 Help OCW continue to provide free and open access to MIT 627 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:19,338 courses by making a donation at ocw.mit.edu/donate.