SLOW MOTION SCIENCE!  Ferrofluid dropping on magnet

That description of how a liquid body is deformed into an elongated ellipsoid is OK, but what's the math behind it? Can we calculate the shape of a liquid body undergoing a force? 
Also, it was a little disturbing for me to see a pointed end on one side of the ferrofluid droplet. Why? 

https://youtu.be/pwChk4S99i4?t=5m47s The explanation for tide formation begins at the linked point in the Space Time video, but you might want to start at the beginning. 
"The ocean isn't being lifted or stretched. Instead, thanks to the cumulative sideways traction everywhere else, it's being squeezed toward the earth-moon line and piling up there. Basically, the moon is turning the entire ocean into a planet size hydraulic pump. The ocean is budging along the earth-moon line in the same way a blister or pimple will budge up in the center if you start to squeeze it from the sides.”
The diagram in the video is helpful. If you draw a vector indicating the deviation from average at every point in the fluid, the earth-moon line is elongated, and the perpendicular to that line is compressed.