planetmonkey
Suppose that you are climbing a hill whose shape is given by the equation z = 1000 - 0.01x2 - 0.02y2 and you are standing at a point with coordinates (60, 100, 764).
In which direction should you proceed initially in order to reach the top of the hill fastest? (Enter as a vector of magnitude 1.)

Question

planetmonkey
Suppose that you are climbing a hill whose shape is given by the equation z = 1000 - 0.01x2 - 0.02y2 and you are standing at a point with coordinates (60, 100, 764).
In which direction should you proceed initially in order to reach the top of the hill fastest? (Enter as a vector of magnitude 1.)

tkhunny · Answer

Does that sound like a gradient to you?  You have some partial derivatives in your future.