Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-year-1-of-the-computer-science-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2021/discrete-mathematics-continuous-mathematics-and-probability/5/c/solution
Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford 2021 Discrete mathematics, continuous mathematics, and probability 5 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
The objective is continuous on the compact disk, so a global maximum exists. Its gradient is , which is never zero, so a maximum cannot lie in the interior. It must have .
Both coordinates of a maximizing point are positive. Reflecting a negative coordinate to its positive counterpart strictly increases the objective without changing the constraint; at an endpoint with one coordinate zero, a small move along the circle into the positive quadrant also increases the objective to first order. Thus it suffices to consider .
The boundary Lagrange multiplier equations are and . Eliminate to obtain the two-dimensional nonlinear system of equationsKeeping this quadrant restriction excludes the boundary minimum that an unconstrained elimination could also produce. Under the stated uniqueness assumption for the admissible solution, the global maximum must be that solution. Approximate it with multivariable Newton iteration, solving and setting , with a suitable safeguard if needed. For example its explicit Jacobian matrix isNo numerical solution of the system is required.
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