# Finding normal vector of point $(x,y)$ given $f(x, y)$

Ignoring the codes, this is more or less a calculus question. Given an equation of a surface $z = x^2 + y^2$, I need to find normal vector of a point. I am not good at maths ... so ...

For (a), I believe the $\frac{\partial z}{\partial x}$ is equation of tangent of curve created by plane $y=c$ (probably wrong strictly speaking but you get the idea) with surface $f(x, y)$. Similarly for $\frac{\partial z}{\partial y}$ is equation of tangent of curve created by plane $x=c$ with surface $f(x, y)$

For (b) is tangent vector the same as the equations found in (a)?

For (c), do I do a cross product of the partial derivatives? If so, what I don't understand is how do I map the equations to a "matrix notation form" that I am familiar to do cross product?

For part (b), the tangent vector corresponding to $\frac{\partial z}{\partial x}$ is $$z_x = \left(1, 0, \frac{\partial z}{\partial x} \right)$$ Similarly, the tangent vector corresponding to $\frac{\partial z}{\partial y}$ is $$z_y = \left(0, 1, \frac{\partial z}{\partial y} \right)$$
For part (c), your idea of taking a cross product is correct. The surface normal is $z_x \times z_y$. You may have to unitize this vector before passing it to OpenGL.
In computer graphics, it's more common for a surface to be given by parametric equations $\mathbf{S} = \mathbf{S}(u,v)$, rather than in the form $z=f(x,y)$. Then the surface normal is simply the cross product of the partial derivative vectors: $$\mathbf{N} = \frac{\partial \mathbf{S}}{\partial u} \times \frac{\partial \mathbf{S}}{\partial v}$$ What we have here can be considered a special case where $u=x$, $v=y$, and $\mathbf{S}(x,y) = (x, y, z(x,y))$.