In the two variable case, formula_3 and formula_4 are the principal minors of the Hessian. The first two conditions listed above on the signs of these minors are the conditions for the positive or negative definiteness of the Hessian. For the general case of an arbitrary number "n" of variables, there are "n" sign conditions on the "n" principal minors of the Hessian matrix that together are equivalent to positive or negative definiteness of the Hessian (Sylvester's criterion): for a local minimum, all the principal minors need to be positive, while for a local maximum, the minors with an odd number of rows and columns need to be negative and the minors with an even number of rows and columns need to be positive. See Hessian matrix#Bordered Hessian for a discussion that generalizes these rules to the case of equality-constrained optimization.