Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2023 / Paper 2 / 12 / c / ii

Now $h=e^x-e^y-x+y$ and the origin has stationary value zero. Near it,The level curves therefore resemble hyperbolas near the saddle point of a scalar function. Along the $x$-axis $h=e^x-x-1>0$ for $x\ne 0$, while along the $y$-axis $h=1-e^y+y<0$ for $y\ne 0$. The zero level set includes the exact diagonal $x=y$ and another branch crossing it at the origin; this second branch is tangent to $y=-x$ but is curved away from the origin. The right panel of the contour figure displays these features.