Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2011 / Paper 2 / 13 / c / Solution

Since $f>0$, a level $f=c$ can occur only for $c>0$. Taking its natural logarithm gives $xy=\ln c$. Thus $c>1$ produces rectangular hyperbolas in the first and third quadrants, $0<c<1$ produces them in the second and fourth quadrants, and $c=1$ consists of both coordinate axes.

The gradient $e^{xy}(y,x)$ vanishes only at $(0,0)$, where $f=1$. The Hessian matrix there is $\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 1& 0\end{array}\right)$, with negative determinant. Equivalently, $f(x,x)>1$ while $f(x,-x)<1$ for nonzero small $x$. Hence the only stationary point is a saddle point at $(0,0,1)$ on the graph; its location in the contour plane is the origin.