Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2018 / Paper 2 / 19 / a / ii

Eliminate $z$ using the constraint: $z=x-x^2-y^2$. The restricted objective is the quadratic polynomial $F(x,y)=axy+x-x^2-y^2$, with constant Hessian matrixIts eigenvalues are $-2+a$ and $-2-a$. HenceFor $|a|<2$, both eigenvalues are negative and the quadratic polynomial is strictly concave, so the maximum is global on the entire constraint surface. For $|a|>2$, the opposite signs give increasing and decreasing directions. At $a=\pm 2$ there is no stationary point, as already found, rather than a degenerate extremum to classify. No parameter value produces a constrained local minimum.