Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/ia/paper-2/6a/a/solution

The multivariable chain rule gives, at ,
Sufficient conditions for a strict local minimum at are and .
At a stationary point, in every direction. Its second derivative is the quadratic form of the Hessian matrix. If
then completing the square gives
for every nonzero direction . The Hessian is therefore positive definite, and the stationary point is a strict local minimum.

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