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These orthogonal coordinates extend two confocal families of parabolas parallel to an axis. In the displayed scaling their scale factors of orthogonal coordinates are $h_u=h_v=2\sqrt{u^2+v^2}$ and $h_w=1$, so the Laplacian is $\Delta \varphi =({\varphi }_{uu}+{\varphi }_{vv})/[4(u^2+v^2)]+{\varphi }_{ww}$ away from $u=v=0$. With $u\ge 0$, signed $v$ distinguishes the upper and lower half-planes; the two signs at $u=0$ describe the same negative $x$ half-axis. Fixed positive $u^2$ or $v^2$ describes a parabolic cylinder. This differs from the rotational three-dimensional parabolic coordinates, whose coordinate surfaces are elliptic paraboloids.

Let $\rho =\sqrt{x^2+y^2}=uv$. The condition $u\le v$ gives $z\le 0$. On the outer coordinate surface $v=1$, elimination of $u$ gives $z=({\rho }^2-1)/2$. On $u=v$, the surface is the plane $z=0$, with $\rho =u^2\le 1$. Thus the closure of the body isIt is a solid circular cap bounded below by an elliptic paraboloid of revolution and above by the unit disk in $z=0$. Its vertex is $\boxed{(0,0,-1/2)}$, its height is $\boxed{1/2}$, and its rim is the circle $\boxed{x^2+y^2=1,z=0}$. The symmetry axis is the $z$ axis. The coordinate surface $u=0$ maps to that axis rather than to an additional two-dimensional boundary. These are parabolic coordinates.

Differentiate the position vector with respect to the three coordinates to obtain the coordinate basis vectors:The chain rule gives $d\mathbf{x}={\mathbf{h}}_{u}du+{\mathbf{h}}_{v}dv+{\mathbf{h}}_{\varphi }d\varphi$. The scale factors of orthogonal coordinates are the corresponding norms:Direct dot products give ${\mathbf{h}}_u\cdot {\mathbf{h}}_v=uv-uv=0$, ${\mathbf{h}}_u\cdot {\mathbf{h}}_{\varphi }=0$, and ${\mathbf{h}}_v\cdot {\mathbf{h}}_{\varphi }=0$. Thus the parabolic coordinates are orthogonal wherever the coordinate vectors are nondegenerate. Their degeneracy on $uv=0$ is the usual axis degeneracy of the azimuthal coordinate.

Apply the multivariable chain rule to a differentiable function $f(s,t)$ on the chosen local branch of the parabolic coordinates:Substituting part (ii) gives

The determinant of the Jacobian matrix is $s^2+t^2$. Wherever $(s,t)\ne (0,0)$, the inverse function theorem permits a local inverse of the parabolic coordinates transformation, andReading off its entries givesThese are local formulas on a chosen branch: $(s,t)$ and $(-s,-t)$ have the same image, and at the origin the Jacobian matrix is singular, so this inverse-derivative formula does not apply there.

Taking the partial derivatives of the parabolic coordinates transformation, holding the other coordinate fixed each time, givesThus its Jacobian matrix is $J=\left(\begin{array}{cc}t& s\\ -s& t\end{array}\right)$.