Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2018/ii/paper-3/31b/a/solution

Put and . Since
a steepest-descent curve through the saddle point lies in
The saddle is cubic rather than simple:
Thus the curves meet the origin in the three descent directions for which is negative real,
One curve is the negative real axis , . The other two are conjugate curves with and . Near the origin, , while for the defining equation gives , so . Their three asymptotes are therefore

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