Ask Your Question

Revision history [back]

click to hide/show revision 1
initial version

posted 2014-07-16 22:18:51 -0600

I'm not sure about how solid this reasoning is, but I sort of based my answer on how I know $e^{-x^2}$ behaves. If you remember from quantum mechanics, this type of function has a high value at one spot and a low value everywhere else; adding $y^2$ to the exponent should only extend this to another dimension. Plot II looks like it peaks in one spot and is small everywhere else, so I would pick it to be the plot of $e^{-(x^2+y^2)}$.

I'm not sure about how solid this reasoning is, but I sort of based my answer on how I know $e^{-x^2}$ behaves. If you remember from quantum mechanics, this type of function has a high value at one spot and a low value everywhere else; adding $y^2$ to the exponent should only extend this to another dimension. Plot II looks like it peaks in one spot and is small everywhere else, so I would pick it to be the plot of $e^{-(x^2+y^2)}$.

In general I sort of expect $e^{-(junk)^2}$ to behave like this since we use these functions so often to represent peak values in one area with minimal values in others. I've also noticed that on our sheets, a lot of the plots that look like isolated hills and holes are complicated combinations and variations of this type of function.

I'm not sure about how solid this reasoning is, but I sort of based my answer on how I know $e^{-x^2}$ behaves. If you remember from quantum mechanics, this This type of function has a high value at one spot and a low value everywhere else; adding $y^2$ to the exponent should only extend this to another dimension. Plot II looks like it peaks in one spot and is small everywhere else, so I would pick it to be the plot of $e^{-(x^2+y^2)}$.

In general I sort of expect $e^{-(junk)^2}$ to behave like this since we use these functions so often to represent peak values in one area with minimal values in others. I've also noticed that on our sheets, a lot of the plots that look like isolated hills and holes are complicated combinations and variations of this type of function.