Surfaces in R3 and their Traces

1. Let S be the sphere of radius 7 centered at (1, −2, 3). Is S the graph of a function? If so, what
function?
Solution. Asking whether S is the graph of a function is the same as asking whether S can be
described by a single equation of the form z = f (x, y). (If so, S is the graph of f .) If a surface is
described as z = f (x, y), then there can only be one z value for each (x, y) value. The sphere does not
satisfy this: for instance (1, −2, 10) and (1, −2, −4) are both points on S, and they have the same x
and y values but different z values. So, S is not the graph of a function .

Of course, we can still write an equation for S; it consists of all points (x, y, z) whose distance from
(1, −2, 3) is 7, which is all points (x, y, z) satisfying
p
(x − 1)2 + (y + 2)2 + (z − 3)2 = 7

Squaring both sides, we can rewrite this more simply as

(x − 1)2 + (y + 2)2 + (z − 3)2 = 49

2. (a) What does the equation x2 + z 2 = 1 in R3 describe graphically?

Solution. The trace in y = k is a circle centered at x = 0, z = 0 with radius 1. Since the trace
is the same for every k, this is a cylinder (infinitely long) with radius 1 whose central axis is the
y-axis. Here is the surface, with some of its cross-sections with y = k shown in blue:

(b) Sketch the part of x2 + z 2 = 1 between y = −1 and y = 3.

Solution. This is the cylinder we sketched in (a), just chopped off at y = −1 and y = 3:

3. Here’s a general strategy for sketching surfaces in R3 . Let’s look at the equation 4x2 − y 2 + z 2 = 1 in
R3 as an example.

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(a) Is there a set of elliptical traces (in either x = k, y = k, or z = k)? If so, how are the ellipses
stretched? (Longer in which direction? How much longer?) Where are they centered?
Solution. The traces in y = k can be written 4x2 + z 2 = k 2 +√1, so they are ellipses centered at
2 √
x = 0, z = 0. The ellipse 4x2 + z 2 = k 2 + 1 has x-intercepts ± k2 +1 and z-intercepts ± k 2 + 1,
so it is twice as long in the z-direction as in the x-direction:

z
√
k2 + 1

√ x
k2 +1
2

(b) Pick one additional trace that goes through the centers of the ellipses, and describe that trace.

Solution. The ellipses in (a) were centered at x = 0, z = 0, so we should look at either the trace
in x = 0 or the trace in z = 0 (which one you pick doesn’t matter). Let’s look at the trace in
x = 0; it’s z 2 − y 2 = 1, which is a hyperbola. The hyperbola has z-intercepts z = ±1 (and no
y-intercepts), so the hyperbola opens in the z-direction:

1
y
−1

(c) Put these pieces of information together to sketch 4x2 − y 2 + z 2 = 1.

Solution. Now, we need to sketch in R3 . Let’s start by drawing the cross-section with x = 0,
which we found in (b):

From (a), each cross-section with y = k is an ellipse which is twice as long in the z-direction as
in the x-direction. If we draw in a few of these, we get a good picture of the surface:

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 For comparison, you can ask Mathematica to draw the surface. Since it’s not the graph of a
function of 2 variables, we can’t use Plot3D. Instead, since it’s written in the form

function of x, y, and z = constant,

we use ContourPlot3D. The output of

ContourPlot3D[4*x^2 - y^2 + z^2, {x, -3, 3}, {y, -3, 3}, {z, -3, 3},
Contours -> {1}, AxesLabel -> {x, y, z}, ViewPoint -> {5, 3, 2}]
looks like this:

Notice that we’ve used the ViewPoint option to get the axes roughly where we expect.

4. (a) Does the strategy from #3 work for sketching x2 − y 2 + z = 0? Why or why not?

Solution. The strategy doesn’t work, because none of the traces are ellipses:

• The traces in x = k are k 2 − y 2 + z = 0, which can be rewritten z = y 2 − k 2 . These are

upward parabolas.

• The traces in y = k are x2 − k 2 + z = 0, which can be rewritten z = k 2 − x2 . These are

downward parabolas.

• The traces in z = k are x2 − y 2 + k = 0, or x2 − y 2 = −k. These are hyperbolas.

Note: Because 2 sets of traces are parabolas and 1 set is hyperbolas, this surface is called a
hyperbolic paraboloid.

(b) Which of the following is the surface x2 − y 2 + z = 0?

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 (A) (B) (C) (D)

Solution. The only one that matches the traces we described in (a) is C .

(z + 1)2
5. (a) Sketch (x − 2)2 − y 2 − = 0.
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Solution. The first thing you might notice is that this involves x − 2 and z + 1 rather than just x
2
and z. There are multiple ways you could deal with this; I prefer to first sketch x2 − y 2 − z4 = 0
and then shift it appropriately (by 2 units in the x-direction and −1 in the z-direction).
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So, let’s think about x2 − y 2 − z4 = 0. Following the strategy of #3, let’s first see whether there
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are some elliptical traces. The traces in x = k are y 2 + z4 = k 2 , which are ellipses centered at
y = 0, z = 0 with y-intercepts ±k and z-intercepts ±2k. Therefore, the ellipses are twice as long
in the z-direction as in the y-direction.
We should look at one additional trace, either in y = 0 or z = 0. The trace in y = 0 of
2 2
x2 − y 2 − z4 = 0 is x2 = z4 , or z = ±2x. This is a pair of lines in the xz-plane. If we draw in
these lines (in red below) and then draw some ellipses in x = k (in blue), we get the following
sketch:

So, we can see that the surface is a double cone. Finally, we need to shift it by +2 in the x-direction
and −1 in the z-direction:

(z + 1)2
(b) Sketch the part of (x − 2)2 − y 2 − = 0 with x ≥ 3.
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Solution. Here’s the surface:

(It extends forever in the positive x-direction.)