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Contour Plots and Critical Points

Part 4: Summary

  1. Explain how you can identify a local maximum or a local minimum of f(x,y) from a contour plot of the function.

  2. Explain how you can identify a saddle point of f(x,y) from a contour plot of the function.

  3. Summarize the steps in our method for finding precise coordinates of a critical point by using the second-degree Taylor approximation.

  4. Why would it not work to use the first-degree approximation in place of the second-degree approximation in this process?

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