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Application of Derivatives

This document discusses techniques for solving related rates and optimization problems using calculus. It provides examples of related rates problems where the rate of change of one quantity is determined based on given rates of change. It also outlines the steps to solve optimization problems, such as expressing the objective function in terms of one variable and taking the derivative to find critical points. Sample optimization problems include finding maximum area of shapes and minimum surface area of boxes.

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Eugene Embalzado Jr.
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61 views29 pages

Application of Derivatives

This document discusses techniques for solving related rates and optimization problems using calculus. It provides examples of related rates problems where the rate of change of one quantity is determined based on given rates of change. It also outlines the steps to solve optimization problems, such as expressing the objective function in terms of one variable and taking the derivative to find critical points. Sample optimization problems include finding maximum area of shapes and minimum surface area of boxes.

Uploaded by

Eugene Embalzado Jr.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Application of

Derivatives:
Related Rates and
Optimization
Eugene H. Embalzado Jr., ECE, CCNA
Objectives:
• Find a related rate.
• Use related rates to solve real-life problems.
• Apply differentiation in optimization problems.
Related Rates
• A related rates problem involves two or more quantities that vary with
time and an equation that expresses some relationship between them.

• Typically, the values of these quantities at some instant are given


together with all their time rates of change but one. The problem is
usually to find the time rate of change this is not given, at some instant
specified in the problem.
How to Solve Related Rates
Example:
• A ladder, 10 ft tall rests against a wall. If the ladder is sliding away
from the bottom of the wall at 1 ft/sec, how fast is the top of the
ladder coming down the wall when the bottom is 6 ft from the
wall?

Answer: - 0.75 ft/sec


Example:
• A pebble is dropped in a calm pond, causing ripples in the from of
concentric circles. The radius r of the outer ripple is increasing at a
rate of 1 foot per second. When the radius is 4 feet, at what rate is
the total area A of the disturbed water changing?

Answer: 8pi ft /sec


Example:
• Air is being pumped into a spherical balloon at a rate of 5 cm3/min.
Determine the rate at which the radius of the balloon is increasing
when the diameter of the balloon is 20 cm.

Answer: 1/80π cm/min


Example:
• Two people are 50 feet apart. One of them starts walking north at a
rate so that the angle shown in the diagram below is changing at a
constant rate of 0.01 rad/min. At what rate is distance between the
two people changing when θ=0.5 radians?

Answer: 0.3113 ft/min


Example:
• A tank of water in the shape of a cone is leaking water at a constant
rate of 2ft3/hour2ft3/hour. The base radius of the tank is 5 ft and the
height of the tank is 14 ft.
• a) At what rate is the depth of the water in the tank changing when
the depth of the water is 6 ft?
• b) At what rate is the radius of the top of the water in the tank
changing when the depth of the water is 6 ft?

Answer: a. 0.1386 ft/hr. b. −0.04951 ft/hr


Example:
• An eight feet tall man walks away from a 22ft high lamp post at the
rate of 5 ft/s. Find the rate of change of the length of his shadow in
ft/s.

Answer: 20/7 ft/s


Example:
• The angle of elevation is the angle formed by a horizontal line and a
line joining the observer’s eye to an object above the horizontal line.
A person is 500 feet way from the launch point of a hot air balloon.
The hot air balloon is starting to come back down at a rate of 15
ft/sec. At what rate is the angle of elevation, θ, changing when the
hot air balloon is 200 feet above the ground.

Answer: -0.02586 rad/s


Example:
• Batman and Scooby Doo are having lunch together when they both
simultaneously receive a call. Batman heads off to Gotham city
traveling east at 40 miles per hour. Scooby hops in the mystery
machine and heads north at 30 miles an hour. How fast is the distance
between them changing 6 minutes later?

Answer: 50 miles / hr
Example:
• A 5-foot long trough has ends shaped like isosceles triangles that have
a height of 20 ft. and a width of 10 ft., with the base at the top of the
trough. Water is flowing into the trough at a rate of 13 cubic feet per
second. What is the rate of change of the height of the water when
the water is 10 feet deep?

Answer: 13/25 ft/sec


Optimization
• In solving such practical problems the greatest challenge is often to
convert the word problem into a mathematical optimization problem
by setting up the function that is to be maximized or minimized.
• In optimization problems we are looking for the largest value or the
smallest value that a function can take.
• Examples:
• Minimum cost in operating cans
• Maximum time it takes to travel by walking and riding a train
• Maximum area in fencing a farm
Steps in Solving Optimization Problems
1. Understand the Problem. The first step is to read the problem carefully until it
is clearly understood. Ask yourself: What is the unknown? What are the given
quantities? What are the given conditions?
2. Draw a Diagram In most problems it is useful to draw a diagram and identify
the given and required quantities on
the diagram.
3. Introduce Notation Assign a symbol to the quantity that is to be maximized or
minimized (let’s call it Q for now). Also select symbols (a, b, c, . . . , x, y) for
other unknown quantities and label the diagram with these symbols. It may
help to use initials as suggestive symbols—for example, A for area, h for
height, t for time.
Steps in Solving Optimization Problems
4. Express the function to be maximized or minimized in terms of some
of the other symbols from Step 3 reducing it to one variable.
5. Take the derivative, set it equal to zero and find the missing value.
Example:
• A farmer has 2400 ft of fencing and wants to fence off a rectangular
field that borders a straight river. He needs no fence along the river.
What are the dimensions of the field that has the largest area?

Answer: 600 ft deep and 1200 ft wide.


Example 1 – Solution
In order to get a feeling for what is happening in this problem, let’s
experiment with some special cases.
Figure 1 (not to scale) shows three possible ways of laying out the 2400
ft of fencing.

Figure 1
Example 1 – Solution cont’d

We see that when we try shallow, wide fields or deep, narrow fields,
we get relatively small areas. It seems plausible that there is some
intermediate configuration that produces the largest area.

Figure 2 illustrates the general case. We wish to maximize the area A of


the rectangle.

Figure 2
Example:
• The sum of two positive numbers is 10. Find the larger number if the
product of square of one by the cube of the other is at maximum.

Answer: 6
Example:
• A box is to be made of a piece of cardboard 9 in2 by cutting equal
squares out of the corners and turning up the sides. Find the volume
of the largest box that can be made in this way.

Answer: 54 in3
Example:
• The altitude of the cylinder of maximum volume which can be
inscribed in a right circular cone of radius R and height H is?

Answer: (1/3)H
Example:
• Find the rectangle of the largest area that can be inscribed in an
equilateral triangle of side 20.

Answer: 50/sqrt(3) units


Example:
• A closed box with a square base is to contain 252 cu. ft. The bottom
costs P5 per sq ft., the top costs P2 per sq. ft, and the sides cost P3
per sq. ft. Find the height of the box that will minimize the cost.

Answer: 7 ft
Example:
• Find the point on parabola 2x = y2 closest to the point (1,0)

Answer: (0, 0)
Example:
• Find the dimensions of the rectangle of largest area whose base is on
the x-axis and whose upper two vertices line on the parabola y = 12-
x2. What is the maximum area?

Answer: 32
Example:
• A statue 3m high is standing on a base of 4 m high. If an observer’s
eye is 1.5 m above the ground, how far should the observer stand
from the base in order that the angle subtended by the statue is
maximum.

Answer: 3.71 m
Summary:
• Apply the basic rules of
differentiation in higher order
derivatives.
• Identify explicit and implicit
functions.
• Apply implicit differentiation on
implicit functions
References:
Stewart, James. (2008). Calculus. Early Transcendentals.
Sixth Edition. Thomson Learning, Inc.

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