Related Rates
In a related rates problem the idea is to compute the rate of change of one variable in
terms of the rate of change of another variable (which may be more easily measured).
The key thing to remember is that rates of change are derivatives.
All the variables mentioned in the problems are functions of time t, so everything changes
with respect to time t.
dx
If a variable, let’s say x (t) , is said to be constant or stable, then = 0.
dt
The procedure is to find an equation that relates the variables and then use the Chain
Rule to differentiate both sides with respect to time t.
Remark 1 If a variable is "increasing", then the rate of change of that variable is "+". If a variable is
"decreasing", then the rate of change of that variable is "-".
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Example 2 A particle moves along the curve y = 1 + x3 . As it reaches the point (2, 3), the y coordinate
is increasing at a rate of 4 cm/s. How fast is the x coordinate of the point changing at that instant?
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Example 3 A snow ball melts so that surface area decreases at a rate of 0.01 cm2 / min . Find the rate
at which the diameter decreases when the diameter is 8 cm.
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Example 4 A fireman is on top of a 7 m ladder that is leaning against a burning building. If the bottom
of the ladder slides away from the wall at a rate of 4 m/ sec, then what is the rate of change of the fireman
on top of the ladder when the top of the ladder is 2 m above the ground?
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Example 5 A street light is mounted at top of a 5 m tall pole. A woman 2 m tall walks away from the
pole with a speed of 1, 5 m/ sec along a straight path. How fast is the tip of her shadow moving when
she is 10 m from the pole?
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Example 6 When a circular plate of metal is heated in an oven, its radius increases at the rate of
0.01cm/min. At what rate is the plate’s area increasing when the radius is 50cm?
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Example 7 Two sides of a triangle are 4 m and 5 m in length and the angle between them is increasing
at a rate of 0, 06 rad/ sec . Find the rate at which the area of the triangle is increasing when the angle
π
between the sides of fixed length is .
4
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Example 8 Water pours into in inverted cone at a rate of 2 m3 / min . If the cone has a radius of 2 m
and a height of 4 m, find the rate at which the water level is rising when the water is 3 m deep.
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Example 9 The power P (watts) in an electric circuit is related to the circuit’s resistance R (ohms) and
the current I (amperes) by the equation
P = RI 2 .
The power of a circuit is a constant 40 watts and the resistance R is decreasing at a rate of 4 ohms/sec,
at what rate is the current I changing at the instant the current is 2 amperes?
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