Section 3-5 : Lagrange Multipliers

1. Find the maximum and minimum values of f ( x=

, y ) 81x 2 + y 2 subject to the constraint
4x2 + y 2 =
9.

Step 1
Before proceeding with the problem let’s note because our constraint is the sum of two terms that are
squared (and hence positive) the largest possible range of x is − 32 ≤ x ≤ 32 (the largest values would
occur if y = 0 ). Likewise, the largest possible range of y is −3 ≤ y ≤ 3 (with the largest values occurring
if x = 0 ).

Note that, at this point, we don’t know if x and/or y will actually be the largest possible value. At this
point we are simply acknowledging what they are. What this allows us to say is that whatever our
answers will be they must occur in these bounded ranges and hence by the Extreme Value Theorem we
know that absolute extrema will occur for this problem.

This step is an important (and often overlooked) step in these problems. It always helps to know that
absolute extrema exist prior to actually trying to find them!

Step 2
The first actual step in the solution process is then to write down the system of equations we’ll need to
solve for this problem.

162 x = 8 xλ
2 y = 2 yλ
4x2 + y 2 =
9

Step 3
For most of these systems there are a multitude of solution methods that we can use to find a solution.
Some may be harder than other, but unfortunately, there will often be no way of knowing which will be
“easy” and which will be “hard” until you start the solution process.

Do not be afraid of these systems. They are probably unlike anything you’ve ever really been asked to
solve up to this point. Most of the systems can be solved using techniques that you already know and
aren’t really as “bad” as they may appear at first glance. Some do require some additional techniques
and can be quite messy but for the most part still involve techniques that you do know how to use, you
just may not have ever seen them done in the context of solving systems of equations.

In this case, simply because the numbers are a little smaller, let’s start with the second equation. A little
rewrite of the equation gives us the following,

y 2 y ( λ − 1=
2 yλ − 2= ) 0 → = λ 1
y 0 or =
Be careful here to not just divide both sides by y to “simplify” the equation. Remember that you can’t
divide by anything unless you know for a fact that it won’t ever be zero. In this case we can see that y
clearly can be zero and if you divide it out to start the solution process you will miss that solution. This is
often one of the biggest mistakes that students make when working these kinds of problems.

Step 4
We now have two possibilities from Step 2. Either y = 0 or λ = 1 . We’ll need to go through both of
these possibilities and see what we get.

Let’s start by assuming that y = 0 . In this case we can go directly to the constraint to get,

4x2 =
9 → x=
± 32

Therefore, from this part we get two points that are potential absolute extrema,

( − 32 , 0 ) ( 32 , 0 )
Step 5
Next, let’s assume that λ = 1 . In this case, we can plug this into the first equation to get,

162 x =8 x → 154 x =0 → x =0

So, under this assumption we must have x = 0 . We can now plug this into the constraint to get,

y2 =
9 → y=
±3

So, this part gives us two more points that are potential absolute extrema,

( 0, −3) ( 0,3)
Step 6
In total, it looks like we have four points that can potentially be absolute extrema. So, to determine the
absolute extrema all we need to do is evaluate the function at each of these points. Here are those
function evaluations.

f ( − 32 , 0 )
= 729
4 f ( 23 , 0 )
= 729
4 f ( 0, −3) 9
= f ( 0,3) 9
=

The absolute maximum is then 729

4 = 182.25 which occurs at ( − 32 , 0 ) and ( 32 , 0 ) . The absolute
minimum is 9 which occurs at ( 0, −3) and ( 0,3) . Do not get excited about the absolute extrema
occurring at multiple points. That will happen on occasion with these problems.
2. Find the maximum and minimum values of f ( x, =
y ) 8 x 2 − 2 y subject to the constraint x 2 + y 2 =
1.

Step 1
Before proceeding with the problem let’s note because our constraint is the sum of two terms that are
squared (and hence positive) the largest possible range of x is −1 ≤ x ≤ 1 (the largest values would
occur if y = 0 ). Likewise, the largest possible range of y is −1 ≤ y ≤ 1 (with the largest values occurring
if x = 0 ).

Note that, at this point, we don’t know if x and/or y will actually be the largest possible value. At this
point we are simply acknowledging what they are. What this allows us to say is that whatever our
answers will be they must occur in these bounded ranges and hence by the Extreme Value Theorem we
know that absolute extrema will occur for this problem.

This step is an important (and often overlooked) step in these problems. It always helps to know that
absolute extrema exist prior to actually trying to find them!

Step 2
The first actual step in the solution process is then to write down the system of equations we’ll need to
solve for this problem.

16 x = 2 xλ
−2 =2 yλ
x2 + y 2 =
1

Step 3
For most of these systems there are a multitude of solution methods that we can use to find a solution.
Some may be harder than other, but unfortunately, there will often be no way of knowing which will be
“easy” and which will be “hard” until you start the solution process.

Do not be afraid of these systems. They are probably unlike anything you’ve ever really been asked to
solve up to this point. Most of the systems can be solved using techniques that you already know and
aren’t really as “bad” as they may appear at first glance. Some do require some additional techniques
and can be quite messy but for the most part still involve techniques that you do know how to use, you
just may not have ever seen them done in the context of solving systems of equations.

For this system it looks like maybe the first equation will give us some information to start off with so
let’s start with that equation. A quick rewrite of the equation gives us the following,

16 x − 2 xλ= 2 x ( 8 − λ )= 0 → x= 0 or λ= 8

Be careful here to not just divide both sides by x to “simplify” the equation. Remember that you can’t
divide by anything unless you know for a fact that it won’t ever be zero. In this case we can see that x
clearly can be zero and if you divide it out to start the solution process you will miss that solution. This is
often one of the biggest mistakes that students make when working these kinds of problems.
Step 4
We now have two possibilities from Step 2. Either x = 0 or λ = 8 . We’ll need to go through both of
these possibilities and see what we get.

Let’s start by assuming that x = 0 . In this case we can go directly to the constraint to get,

y2 =
1 → y=
±1

Therefore, from this part we get two points that are potential absolute extrema,

( 0, −1) ( 0,1)
Step 5
Next, let’s assume that λ = 8 . In this case, we can plug this into the second equation to get,

−2 =16 y → y =− 18

So, under this assumption we must have y = − 18 . We can now plug this into the constraint to get,

x 2 + 641 =
1 → x2 =63
64 → x=± 63
64 =± 3 87

So, this part gives us two more points that are potential absolute extrema,

(− 3 7
8 , − 18 ) ( 3 7
8 , − 18 )
Step 6
In total, it looks like we have four points that can potentially be absolute extrema. So, to determine the
absolute extrema all we need to do is evaluate the function at each of these points. Here are those
function evaluations.

( )
f − 3 8 7 , − 81 =65
8 f ( 3 7
8 )
, − 81 =65
8 f ( 0, −1) =2 f ( 0,1) =−2

The absolute maximum is then 65

8 (
= 8.125 which occurs at − 3 8 7 , − 18 and ) ( 3 7
8 )
, − 18 . The absolute
minimum is -2 which occurs at ( 0,1) . Do not get excited about the absolute extrema occurring at
multiple points. That will happen on occasion with these problems.

3. Find the maximum and minimum values of f ( x, y, z=

) y 2 − 10 z subject to the constraint
x2 + y 2 + z 2 =
36 .
Step 1
Before proceeding with the problem let’s note because our constraint is the sum of three terms that are
squared (and hence positive) the largest possible range of x is −6 ≤ x ≤ 6 (the largest values would
occur if y = 0 and z = 0 ). Likewise, we’d get the same ranges for both y and z.

Note that, at this point, we don’t know if x, y or z will actually be the largest possible value. At this point
we are simply acknowledging what they are. What this allows us to say is that whatever our answers
will be they must occur in these bounded ranges and hence by the Extreme Value Theorem we know
that absolute extrema will occur for this problem.

This step is an important (and often overlooked) step in these problems. It always helps to know that
absolute extrema exist prior to actually trying to find them!

Step 2
The first actual step in the solution process is then to write down the system of equations we’ll need to
solve for this problem.

0 = 2 xλ
2 y = 2 yλ
−10 = 2 zλ
x2 + y 2 + z 2 =
36

Step 3
For most of these systems there are a multitude of solution methods that we can use to find a solution.
Some may be harder than other, but unfortunately, there will often be no way of knowing which will be
“easy” and which will be “hard” until you start the solution process.

Do not be afraid of these systems. They are probably unlike anything you’ve ever really been asked to
solve up to this point. Most of the systems can be solved using techniques that you already know and
aren’t really as “bad” as they may appear at first glance. Some do require some additional techniques
and can be quite messy but for the most part still involve techniques that you do know how to use, you
just may not have ever seen them done in the context of solving systems of equations.

For this system let’s start with the third equation and note that because the left side is -10, or more
importantly can never by zero, we can see that we must therefore have z ≠ 0 and λ ≠ 0 . The fact that
λ can’t be zero is really important for this problem.

Step 4
Okay, because we now know that λ ≠ 0 we can see that the only way for the first equation to be true is
to have x = 0 .

Therefore, no matter what else is going on with y and z in this problem we must always have x = 0 and
we’ll need to keep that in mind.

Step 5
Next, let’s take a look at the second equation. A quick rewrite of this equation gives,

2 y − 2 yλ= 2 y (1 − λ )= 0 → y= 0 or λ= 1

Step 6
We now have two possibilities from Step 4. Either y = 0 or λ = 1 . We’ll need to go through both of
these possibilities and see what we get.

Let’s start by assuming that y = 0 and recall from Step 3 that we also know that x = 0 . In this case we
can plug these values into the constraint to get,

z 2 =→
36 z=
±6

Therefore, from this part we get two points that are potential absolute extrema,

( 0, 0, −6 ) ( 0, 0, 6 )
Step 7
Next, let’s assume that λ = 1 . If we head back to the third equation we can see that we now have,

−10 =2z → z=−5

So, under this assumption we must have z = −5 and recalling once more from Step 3 that we have
x = 0 we can now plug these into the constraint to get,

y 2 + 25 =
36 → y2 =
11 → y=
± 11

So, this part gives us two more points that are potential absolute extrema,

( 0, − 11, −5 ) ( 0, 11, −5 )
Step 8
In total, it looks like we have four points that can potentially be absolute extrema. So, to determine the
absolute extrema all we need to do is evaluate the function at each of these points. Here are those
function evaluations.

(
f 0, − 11, −5 =)
61 (
f 0, 11, −5 =61 ) f ( 0, 0, −6 ) =60 f ( 0, 0, 6 ) =−60

( ) (
The absolute maximum is then 61 which occurs at 0, − 11, −5 and 0, 11, −5 . The absolute )
minimum is -60 which occurs at ( 0, 0, 6 ) . Do not get excited about the absolute extrema occurring at
multiple points. That will happen on occasion with these problems.
4. Find the maximum and minimum values of f ( x, y, z ) = xyz subject to the constraint
4 . Assume that x ≥ 0 for this problem. Why is this assumption needed?
x + 9 y2 + z2 =

Step 1
Before proceeding with the solution to this problem let’s address why the assumption that x ≥ 0 is
needed for this problem.

The answer is simple. Without that assumption this function will not have absolute extrema.

If there are no restrictions on x then we could make x as large and negative as we wanted to and we
could still meet the constraint simply by chose a very large y and/or z. Note as well that because y and z
are both squared we could chose them to be either negative or positive.

If we took our choices for x, y and z and plugged them into the function then the function would be
similarly large. Also, the larger we chose x the larger we’d need to choose appropriate y and/or z and
hence the larger our function would become. Finally, as noted above because we could chose y and z to
be either positive or negative we could force the function to be either positive or negative with
appropriate choices of signs for y and z.

In other words, if we have no restriction on x, we can make the function arbitrarily large in a positive
and negative sense and so this function would not have absolute extrema.

On the other hand, if we put on the restriction on x that we have we now have the sum of three positive
terms that must equal four. This in turn leads to the following largest possible values of the three
variables in the problem.

0≤ x≤4 − 23 ≤ y ≤ 2
3 −2 ≤ z ≤ 2

The largest value of x and the extreme values of y and z would occur when the other two variables are
zero and in general there is no way to know ahead of time if any of the variables will in fact take on their
largest possible values. However, what we can say now is that because all of our variables are bounded
then by the Extreme Value Theorem we know that absolute extrema will occur for this problem.

Note as well that all we really need here is a lower limit for x. It doesn’t have to be zero that just makes
the above analysis a little bit easier. We could have used the restriction that x ≥ −8 if we’d wanted to.
With this restriction we’d still have a bounded set of ranges for x, y and z and so the function would still
have absolute extrema.

This problem shows just why this step is so important for these problems. If this problem did not have a
restriction on x and we neglected to do this step we’d get the (very) wrong answer! We could still go
through the process below and we’d get values that would appear to be absolute extrema. However, as
we’ve shown above without any restriction on x the function would not have absolute extrema.
The issue here is that the Lagrange multiplier process itself is not set up to detect if absolute extrema
exist or not. Before we even start the process we need to first make sure that the values we get out of
the process will in fact be absolute extrema (i.e. we need to verify that absolute extrema exist).

Step 2
The first step here is to write down the system of equations we’ll need to solve for this problem.

yz = λ
xz = 18 yλ
xy = 2 zλ
x + 9 y2 + z2 =
4

Step 3
For most of these systems there are a multitude of solution methods that we can use to find a solution.
Some may be harder than other, but unfortunately, there will often be no way of knowing which will be
“easy” and which will be “hard” until you start the solution process.

Do not be afraid of these systems. They are probably unlike anything you’ve ever really been asked to
solve up to this point. Most of the systems can be solved using techniques that you already know and
aren’t really as “bad” as they may appear at first glance. Some do require some additional techniques
and can be quite messy but for the most part still involve techniques that you do know how to use, you
just may not have ever seen them done in the context of solving systems of equations.

With this system let’s start out by multiplying the first equation by x, multiplying the second equation by
y and multiplying the third equation by z. Doing this gives the following “new” system of equations.

xyz = xλ
xyz = 18 y 2 λ
xyz = 2 z 2 λ
x + 9 y2 + z2 =
4

Let’s also note that the constraint won’t be true if all three variables are zero simultaneously. One or
two of the variables can be zero but we can’t have all three be zero.

Step 4
Now, let’s set the first and second equations from Step 3 equal. Doing this gives,

xλ =18 y 2 λ → ( x − 18 y ) λ = 0
2
→ x =18 y 2 or λ = 0

Let’s also set the second and third equation from Step 3 equal. Doing this gives,

18 y 2 λ =2 z 2 λ → (18 y 2
− 2 z 2 ) λ =0 → z 2 =9 y 2 or λ =0

Step 5
Okay, from Step 4 we have two possibilities. Either λ = 0 or we have x = 18 y 2 and z 2 = 9 y 2 .

Let’s take care of the first possibility, λ = 0 . If we go back to the original system this assumption gives
us the following system.

yz =
0 → y=
0 or z =
0
xz =
0 → x=
0 or z =
0
xy =
0 → x=
0 or y =
0
x + 9y + z =
2
4 2

Step 6
We have all sorts of possibilities from Step 5. From the first equation we have two possibilities. Let’s
start with y = 0 . Since the third equation from Step 5 won’t really tell us anything (after all it is now 0 =
0) let’s move to the second equation. In this case we get either x = 0 or z = 0 .

Recall that at the end of the third step we noticed that we can’t have all three of the variables be zero
but we could have two of them be zero. So, this leads to the following two cases that we can plug into
the constraint to find the value of the third variable.

y=0, x =
0 : z 2 =→
4 z=
±2
=
y 0,=z 0 : =
x 4

So, this gives us the following three potential absolute extrema.

( 0, 0, −2 ) ( 0, 0, 2 ) ( 4, 0, 0 )
Next, let’s take a look at the second possibility from the first equation in Step 5, z = 0 . In this case the
second equation will be 0 = 0 and so will not be of any use. The third however, has the possibilities of
x = 0 or y = 0 . The second of these was already addressed above so all we need to look at is,
z=
0, x =
0 : 9 y2 =
4 → y=
± 32

This leads to two more potential absolute extrema.

( 0, − 23 , 0 ) ( 0, 23 , 0 )
We could now go back and start with the second or third equation but if we did that you’d just
end up with the above possibilities (you might want to verify that for yourself…). Therefore, we
get a total of five possible absolute extrema from this Step. They are,

( 0, 0, ±2 ) ( 0, ± 23 , 0 ) ( 4, 0, 0 )
We made heavy use of the “ ± ” notation here to simplify things a little bit. It’s not required but will
make the rest of the work with these points a little easier as we’ll see eventually.
Step 7
Now, way back in Step 5 we had another possibility : x = 18 y 2 and z 2 = 9 y 2 . We have to now take a
look at this case. In this case we can plug each of these directly into the constraint to get the following,

18 y 2 + 9 y 2 + 9 y 2 =
36 y 2 =
4 → y=
± 13

Now we can go back to the two assumptions we started this step off with to get,

18 ( 19 ) =
x= 2 9 ( 19 ) 1
z 2 ==→ z=
±1

Now, in most cases, we can’t just “mix and match” all the values of x, y and z to from points. In this case
however, we can do exactly that. The x = 2 will arise regardless of the sign on y because of the y 2 in
the x assumption. Likewise, because of the y 2 in the z assumption each of the z’s can arise for either y
and so we get all combinations of x, y and z for points in this case.

Therefore, we get the following four possible absolute extrema from this step.

( 2, − 13 , −1) ( 2, − 13 ,1) ( 2, 13 , −1) ( 2, 13 ,1)

Step 8
In total, it looks like we have nine points that can potentially be absolute extrema. So, to determine the
absolute extrema all we need to do is evaluate the function at each of these points and with nine points
that seems like a lot of work.

However, in this case, it’s actually quite simple. Recall that the function we’re evaluating is
f ( x, y, z ) = xyz . First, this means that if even one of the variables is zero the whole function will be
zero. Therefore, the function evaluations for the five points from Step 6 all give,

) f ( 0, ± 23 , 0=) f ( 4, 0, 0=) 0
f ( 0, 0, ±2=

Note the usage of the “ ± ” notation to “simplify” the work here as well.

Now, the potential points from Step 7 are all the same values, with the exception of signs changing
occasionally on the y and z. That means that the function value here will be either − 23 or 23 depending
on the number of minus signs in the point. So again, not a lot of effort to compute these function
values. Here are the evaluations for the points from Step 7.

f ( 2, − 13 ,1) =f ( 2, 13 , −1) =− 23 f ( 2, − 13 , −1) =f ( 2, 13 ,1) =23

The absolute maximum is then 2
3 which occurs at ( 2, − 13 , −1) and ( 2, 13 ,1) . The absolute minimum is
− 23 which occurs at ( 2, − 13 ,1) and ( 2, 13 , −1) . Do not get excited about the absolute extrema occurring
at multiple points. That will happen on occasion with these problems.

Before leaving this problem we should note that some of the solution processes for the systems that
arise with Lagrange multipliers can be quite involved. It can be easy to get lost in the details of the
solution process and forget to go back and take care of one or more possibilities. You need to always be
very careful and before finishing a problem go back and make sure that you’ve dealt with all the possible
solution paths in the problem.

5. Find the maximum and minimum values of f ( x, y,=

z ) 3 x 2 + y subject to the constraints
9 and x 2 + z 2 =
4x − 3y = 9.

Step 1
Before proceeding with the problem let’s note that the second constraint is the sum of two terms that
are squared (and hence positive). Therefore, the largest possible range of x is −3 ≤ x ≤ 3 (the largest
values would occur if z = 0 ). We’ll get a similar range for z.

Now, the first constraint is not the sum of two (or more) positive numbers. However, we’ve already
established that x is restricted to −3 ≤ x ≤ 3 and this will give −7 ≤ y ≤ 1 as the largest possible range
of y’s. Note that we can easily get this range by acknowledging that the first constraint is just a line and
so the extreme values of y will correspond to the extreme values of x.

So, because we now know that our answers must occur in these bounded ranges by the Extreme Value
Theorem we know that absolute extrema will occur for this problem.

This step is an important (and often overlooked) step in these problems. It always helps to know that
absolute extrema exist prior to actually trying to find them!

Step 2
The first step here is to write down the system of equations we’ll need to solve for this problem.

x 4λ + 2 x µ
6=
1 = −3λ
0 = 2zµ
4x − 3y = 9
x2 + z 2 =
9

Step 3
For most of these systems there are a multitude of solution methods that we can use to find a solution.
Some may be harder than other, but unfortunately, there will often be no way of knowing which will be
“easy” and which will be “hard” until you start the solution process.
Do not be afraid of these systems. They are probably unlike anything you’ve ever really been asked to
solve up to this point. Most of the systems can be solved using techniques that you already know and
aren’t really as “bad” as they may appear at first glance. Some do require some additional techniques
and can be quite messy but for the most part still involve techniques that you do know how to use, you
just may not have ever seen them done in the context of solving systems of equations.

With this system we get a “freebie” to start off with. Notice that from the second equation we quickly
can see that λ = − 13 regardless of any of the values of the other variables in the system.

Step 4
Next, from the third equation we can see that we have either z = 0 or µ = 0 , So, we have 2
possibilities to look at. Let’s take a look at z = 0 first.

In this case we can go straight to the second constraint to get,

x2 =
9 → x=
±3

We can in turn plug each of these possibilities into the first constraint to get values for y.

x=−3 : − 12 − 3 y =
9 → y=−7
=
x 3 : 12 − 3 =
y 9 → =
y 1

Okay, from this step we have two possible absolute extrema.

( −3, −7, 0 ) ( 3,1, 0 )

Step 5
Now let’s go back and take a look at what happens if µ = 0 . If we plug this into the first equation in our
system (and recalling that we also know that λ = − 13 ) we get,

6x =
− 43 → x=
− 92

We can plug this into each of our constraints to get values of y (from the first constraint) and z (form the
second constraint). Here is that work,

4 ( − 92 ) − 3 y =9 → y=− 89
27

( − 92 )
2
+ z2 =
9 → z=
± 5 929

This leads to two more potential absolute extrema.

(− 2
9 , − 89
27 , − 9
5 29
) (− 2
9 , − 89 5 29
27 , 9 )
Step 6
In total, it looks like we have four points that can potentially be absolute extrema. So, to determine the
absolute extrema all we need to do is evaluate the function at each of these points. Here are those
function evaluations.

f ( −3, −7, 0 ) =20 f ( 3,1, 0 ) =28 (

f − 92 , − 89
27 , − 9)
5 29
=− 85
27 (
f − 92 , − 89 )
5 29
27 , 9 =− 85
27

The absolute maximum is then 28 which occurs at ( 3,1, 0 ) . The absolute minimum is − 85
27
which occurs

(
at − 92 , − 89
27 , − 9)
5 29
(
and − 92 , − 89 5 29
27 , 9 )
. Do not get excited about the absolute extrema occurring at
multiple points. That will happen on occasion with these problems.

Before leaving this problem we should note that, in this case, the value of the absolute extrema (as
opposed to the location) did not actually depend on the value of z in any way as the function we were
optimizing in this problem did not depend on z. This will happen sometimes and we shouldn’t get too
worried about it when it does.

Note however that we still need the values of z for the location of the absolute extrema. We need the
values of z for the location because the points that give the absolute extrema are also required to satisfy
the constraint and the second constraint in our problem does involve z’s!