Worksheet 6 – Related Rate 201

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Objective: To use derivative in solving related rate problems.

dy dx
1. If x + y = 25 and
2 2
= 6 , find when y = 4.
dt dt

2. A point moves along the line x + 2 y = 2 . Find

a. the rate of change of the y-coordinate, given that the x-coordinate is
increasing at the rate of 4 units per second.
b. the rate of change of the x-coordinate, given that the y-coordinate is
decreasing at the rate of 2 units per second.

3. A particle is moving in the circular orbit x 2 + y 2 = 25 . As it passes through the

point (3,4), its y-coordinate is decreasing at the rate of 2 units per second. At what
rate is the x-coordinate changing?

dx dy dz
4. If z 2 = x 2 + y 2 , = 2, and = 3 , find when x = 5 and y =12 .
dt dt dt

5. A particle moves along the curve y = 1 + x 2 . 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?

6. A heap of rubbish in the shape of a cube is being compacted into smaller cube.
Given that the volume decreases at the rate of 2 cubic meters per minute, find the
rate of change of the edge of the cube when the volume is exactly 27 cubic
meters. What is the rate of change of the surface area of the cube at that instant?

7. A tank contains 1000 cubic feet of natural gas at a pressure of 5 pounds per square
inch. Find the rate of change of the volume if the pressure decreases a rate of 0.05
pound per square inch per hour.
(Boyle’s Law : pressure x volume = constant).

8. A ladder 13 feet long is leaning against a wall. If the foot of the ladder is pulled
away from the wall at the rate of 0.5 feet per second, how fast will the top of the
ladder be dropping when the base is 5 feet from the wall?

9. Water is poured into conical container, vertex down, at the rate of 2 cubic feet per
minute. The container is 6 feet deep and the open end is 8 feet across. How fast is
the level of the water rising when the container is half full?

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 Worksheet 6 – Related Rate 201
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10. A street light is mounted at the top of a 5-meter-tall pole. A man 2 m talk
walks away from the pole with the speed of 1.5 m/s along a straight path.
How fast is the tip of his shadow moving when he is 10 m from the pole?

11. A man walks along a straight path at a speed of 1.5 m/s. A searchlight is
located on the ground 6 m from the path and is kept focused on the man. At
what rate is the searchlight rotating when the man is 8 m from the point on the
path closest to the searchlight?

12. If a spherical shape snowball melts so that its surface area decreases at a rate
of 1 cm2/min, find the rate at which the diameter decreases when the diameter
is 10 cm.

13. A 13-foot ladder is leaning against a house when its base starts to slide away.
By the time the base is 12 feet from the house, the base is moving at the rate
of 5 ft/sec.

Wall Ladder
R

Ground

a. How fast is the top of the ladder sliding down the wall at that moment
when the base is 12 feet from the house?
b. At what rate is the triangular region R changing at that moment?

14. A high speed train is traveling at 2 km/min along a straight track as shown in
the figure below. The train is moving away from a moving camera which is
located
0.6 km from the track. The camera keeps turning so as to always point at the
front
of the train. How fast (in radians per minute) is the camera rotating when the
front of the train is 1 km from the camera?
train

0.6 km

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 Worksheet 6 – Related Rate 201
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Answer
dx dx
1. x = 3 ⇒ = −8 and x = −3 ⇒ =8
dt dt
dy
2. a. = −2
dt
dx
b. =4
dt
dx 8
3. =
dt 3
dz 46 dz 46
4. z = 13 ⇒ = and z = −13 ⇒ =−
dt 13 dt 13
5. 2 5

dx 2
6. =− rate of change of the edge
dt 27
dA 8
= − rate of change of the surface area
dt 3
dV
7. = 10
dt
5
8. −
24
1
9.
2π
3
10.
5
11. 0.09
1
12. −
20 π
119
13. a. -12 and b. −
2
14. 1.2

3 FAM 0035 January 2010