Rates of Change

Prerequisite Knowledge
O Must be able to read & write
O Must have knowledge of differentiation
What are Rates of Change?

O Example:
If a plane is taking off, it is rising in feet as time
goes on. The distance the plane rises over time
is the rate of change of the height of the plane.


O Therefore: Rate of change is the rate at which
any variable (eg. y) changes with respect to
time. It is represented using the derivative of y
over the derivative of t
dy/dt
Notation
O The rate of change of Area (A) is:dA/dt
O The rate of change of length (l) is:dl/dt
The rate of change of Volumes(V) is:
The rate of change of x is:
The rate of change of p is:


ETC.
Connected Rates of Change
O Many times, different differential equations
-are required. In these instances, we have
to set up a chain link to find the required
function.
More about rate of change
O Rate of change can either be increasing or
decreasing.
O The increasing rate is expressed as a
positive value
eg. A man grows 0.000002 cm in height per
second. Let height =L
dl/dt= +0.000002cms
More about more about rate
of change
O The decreasing rate is expressed as a
negative value.
O Eg. Water leaking from a dam at a
constant rate of 5 cm cubed.Let volume
=V
dv/dt=-5cm
3

Common Errors
Errors in differentiation
Simple multiplication errors
Small Change
O Calculus is used to find the change in one
variable(whether increase or decrease) if
there is a small change in another
variable.
O The result is approximate
O This is found using the derivatives
Eg. (page 225)

Questions
O Air is being pumped into a spherical balloon at a rate of 5 cm
3
/min. Determine the rate at
which the radius of the balloon is increasing when the diameter of the balloon is 20 cm.
O A 15 foot ladder is resting against the wall. The bottom is initially 10 feet away from
the wall and is being pushed towards the wall at a rate of 4 ft/sec. How fast is the
top of the ladder moving up the wall 12 seconds after we start pushing?
O A rectangular pool is being filled at the constant rate of 10 liters / second. The base of
the pool has w = 1 meter and L = 2 meters. What is the rate of change of the height
of water in the pool.

The End.