Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2016 / ib / Paper 1 / 4C / a / Solution

For a twice differentiable function, convexity on ${\mathbb{R}}^2$ is equivalent to its Hessian matrix being positive semidefinite everywhere. Here the Hessian matrix is constant:Its diagonal entries are positive, so positive semidefiniteness is equivalent to $\det H=8-{\alpha }^2\ge 0$. The required parameter range isThe endpoints give convex functions with one flat direction; strict inequalities give a Hessian matrix defining a positive-definite quadratic form and a strictly convex function.