Determining the tangent plane of the function $h(x,y) = \frac{x^2-y^2}{x^2+y^2}$ in the point $(1,1,0)$.

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So the problem is quite simple, but I want to make sure I'm doing it right.

Determine the tangent plane of the function $h(x,y) = \frac{x^2-y^2}{x^2+y^2}$ in the point $(1,1,0)$.

My solution:

First, we start by computing the gradient of $h$ by means of the quotient rule: $\begin{align}\nabla h &= \frac1{(x^2+y^2)^2}(2x(x^2+y^2)-(x^2-y^2)2x,\; -2y(x^2+y^2)+(x^2-y^2)2y)\\ &=\frac{4y^2}{(x^2+y^2)^2}(x,\; -y)\end{align}$

Then, by filling in to this gradient the coordinates $(1,1)$, we obtain $\nabla h(1,1) = (1,-1)$.

From here we take two different vectors $(0,1), (1,0)$ so that when we move in the $y$ direction by a step of $1$ over the tangent plane, we change $z$ by $(0,1)\cdot(1,-1) = -1$ And analogous for $x$, we change by $1$.

Hence, the tangent plane is the plane described by $z = x-y$.

In particular (aside from the correctness) I'm not sure how to move from gradient and directional change to the tangent plane. The way I'm describing it here doesn't seem very... clean..

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The easierst way to determine the tangent plane to a function is via the partial derivatives. You can compute them directly, or via the gradient. If your gradient at a specific point $(x_0,y_0,z_0)$ is the vector $\nabla h(x_0,y_0)=(a,b)$, then the partial dertivatives are

$$\partial_xh(x_0,y_0)=\nabla h(x_0,y_0)\cdot \underbrace{(1,0)}_{x\text{-direction}}=(a,b)\cdot(1,0)=a.$$

In the same way you find $\partial_yh(x_0,y_0)=b$.

These partial derivatives give you two spanning vectors of the tangent plane, namely $(a,0,1)$ and $(0,b,1)$. Via these, you can compute the normal vector $n=(a,0,1)\times (0,b,1)=(-b,-a,ab)$. The tangent plane then is

$$-bx-ay+abz=d.$$

We have to find $d$ from the information that the plane goes through $(x_0,y_0,z_0)$:

$$-bx_0-ay_0+abz_0=d\quad\implies\quad\text{plane equation: }\; -bx-ay+abz=-bx_0-ay_0+abz_0.$$

We can write this in a nicer form:

$$z=\frac{b(x-x_0)+a(y-y_0)+abz_0}{ab}=z_0+\frac1a(x-x_0)+\frac1b(y-y_0).$$

In your case, with $(x_0,y_0,z_0)=(1,1,0)$ and $(a,b)=(1,-1)$, this gives

$$z=(x-1)-(y-1)=x-y.$$