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I'm trying to prove the function $f:\mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{R}$ defined as $$f(x,y)=(x^2+y^2)e^{-(x^2+y^2)}$$ attains a maximum at every point of the unit circle. The determinant of the hessian matrix at those points is zero so I wrote $f$ in polar coordinates and tryed to prove there is no $r \in \mathbb{R}$ satisfying $$r^2e^{-r^2}>e^{-1}$$ which is equivalent to $$e^{r^2}

Thanks

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    Your statement is false for $0\leq r<1$ (and you don't need to consider $r<0$ since the domain is restricted due to the coordinate transformation). – 2017-01-18
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    Recall: [$e^z\geq 1+z$ for $z\in\mathbb{R}$](http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/252541/prove-that-ex-ge-x1-for-all-real-x). Use this with $z=r^2-1$. – 2017-01-18

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This can be proven more easily. Consider $$f(z) = z e^{-z} (z\geq 0) \quad f'(z) = (1-z)e^{-z}$$ The derivative is $0$ only for $z=1$. Since $f'(z) > 0 $ for $z<1$ and $f'(z) < 0$ for $z>1$, $z=1$ corresponds to a unique maximum.

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    Of course, didn't realize I had to think it as a one variable extrema problem. Thanks! – 2017-01-18
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The function $g(r) = e^r$ is strictly convex, therefore its graph lies above each tangent line: $$ e^r = g(r) \ge g(1) + g'(1)(r-1) = er $$ with equality only for $r=1$.