Rate of Change

The purpose of this section is to remind us of one of the more important applications of derivatives. That is the

fact that represents the rate of change of . This is an application that we

repeatedly saw in the previous chapter. Almost every section in the previous chapter contained at least one
problem dealing with this application of derivatives. While this application will arise occasionally in this
chapter we are going to focus more on other applications in this chapter.

So, to make sure that we don’t forget about this application here is a brief set of examples concentrating on the
rate of change application of derivatives. Note that the point of these examples is to remind you of material
covered in the previous chapter and not to teach you how to do these kinds of problems. If you don’t recall how
to do these kinds of examples you’ll need to go back and review the previous chapter.

Example 1 Determine all the points where the following function is not changing.

Solution
First we’ll need to take the derivative of the function.

Now, the function will not be changing if the rate of change is zero and so to answer this question we need to
determine where the derivative is zero. So, let’s set this equal to zero and solve.

The solution to this is then,

If you don’t recall how to solve trig equations check out the Solving Trig Equations sections in the Review
Chapter.

Example 2 Determine where the following function is increasing and decreasing.

Solution
As with the first problem we first need to take the derivative of the function.

Next, we need to determine where the function isn’t changing. This is at,
So, the function is not changing at three values of t. Finally, to determine where the function is increasing or
decreasing we need to determine where the derivative is positive or negative. Recall that if the derivative is
positive then the function must be increasing and if the derivative is negative then the function must be
decreasing. The following number line gives this information.

So, from this number line we can see that we have the following increasing and decreasing information.

If you don’t remember how to solve polynomial and rational inequalities then you should check out the
appropriate sections in the Review Chapter.

Finally, we can’t forget about Related Rates problems.

Example 3 Two cars start out 500 miles apart. Car A is to the west of Car B and starts driving to the east
(i.e. towards Car B) at 35 mph and at the same time Car B starts driving south at 50 mph. After 3 hours of
driving at what rate is the distance between the two cars changing? Is it increasing or decreasing?

Solution
The first thing to do here is to get sketch a figure showing the situation.

In this figure y represents the distance driven by Car B and x represents the distance separating Car A from Car
B’s initial position and z represents the distance separating the two cars. After 3 hours driving time with have
the following values of x and y.

We can use the Pythagorean theorem to find z at this time as follows,

Now, to answer this question we will need to determine given that
and . Do you agree with the signs on the two given rates? Remember that a rate is
negative if the quantity is decreasing and positive if the quantity is increasing.

We can again use the Pythagorean theorem here. First, write it down and the remember that x, y, and z are all
changing with time and so differentiate the equation using Implicit Differentiation.

Finally, all we need to do is cancel a two from everything, plug in for the known quantities and solve for .

So, after three hours the distance between them is decreasing at a rate of 14.9696 mph.
 Rate of Change

Problem 1: A rectangular water tank (see figure below) is being filled at the constant rate of 20 liters / second. The
base of the tank has dimensions w = 1 meter and L = 2 meters. What is the rate of change of the height of water in
the tank?(express the answer in cm / sec).

Solution to Problem 1:

 The volume V of water in the tank is given by.

V = w*L*H

 We know the rate of change of the volume dV/dt = 20 liter /sec. We need to find the rate of change of the
height H of water dH/dt. V and H are functions of time. We can differentiate both side of the above formula to
obtain

 dV/dt = W*L*dH/dt

 note W and L do not change with time and are therefore considered as constants in the above operation of
differentiation.

 We now find a formula for dH/dt as follows.

dH/dt = dV/dt / W*L

 We need to convert liters into cubic cm and meters into cm as follows

1 liter = 1 cubic decimeter

= 1000 cubic centimeters
= 1000 cm 3

and 1 meter = 100 centimeter.

 We now evaluate the rate of change of the height H of water.

dH/dt = dV/dt / W*L

= ( 20*1000 cm 3 / sec ) / (100 cm * 200 cm)

= 1 cm / sec.

Problem 2: An airplane is flying in a straight direction and at a constant height of 5000 meters (see figure below).
The angle of elevation of the airplane from a fixed point of observation is a. The speed of the airplane is 500 km
/ hr. What is the rate of change of angle a when it is 25 degrees? (Express the answer in degrees / second and
round to one decimal place).

Solution to Problem 2:

 The airplane is flying horizontally at the rate of dx/dt = 500 km/hr. We need a relationship between angle a
and distance x. From trigonometry, we can write

tan a = h/x

 angle a and distance x are both functions of time t. Differentiate both sides of the above formula with respect
to t.
 d(tan a)/dt = d(h/x)/dt

 We now use the chain rule to further expand the terms in the above formula

d(tan a)/dt = (sec 2 a) da/dt

d(h/x)/dt = h*(-1 / x 2) dx/dt.

(note: height h is constant)

 Substitute the above into the original formula to obtain

(sec 2 a) da/dt = h*(-1 / x 2) dx/dt

 The above can be written as

da/dt = [ h*(-1 / x 2) dx/dt ] / (sec 2 a)

 We now use the first formula to find x in terms of a and h follows

x = h / tan a

 Substitute the above into the formula for da/dt and simplify

da/dt = [ h*(- tan 2a / h 2) dx/dt ] / (sec 2 a)

= [ (- tan 2a / h) dx/dt ] / (sec 2 a)

= (- sin 2a / h) dx/dt
 Use the values for a, h and dx/dt to approximate da/dt with the right conversion of units: 1km = 1000 m and
1 hr = 3600 sec.

da/dt = [- sin 2(25 deg)/5000 m]*[500 000 m/3600 sec]

= -0.005 radians/sec

= -0.005 * [ 180 degrees / Pi radians] /sec

= -0.3 degrees/sec

Problem 3: If two resistors with resistances R1 and R2 are connected in parallel as shown in the figure below, their
electrical behavior is equivalent to a resistor of resistance R such that 1 / R = 1 / R1 + 1 / R2

If R1 changes with time at a rate r = dR1/dt and R2 is constant, express the rate of change dR / dt of the resistance
of R in terms of dR1/dt, R1 and R2.

Solution to Problem 3:

 We start by differentiating, with respect to time, both sides of the given formula for resistance R, noting that
R2 is constant and d(1/R2)/dt = 0

(-1/R 2)dR/dt = (-1/R1 2)dR1/dt

 Arrange the above to obtain

dR/dt = (R/R1) 2dR1/dt

 From the formula 1 / R = 1 / R1 + 1 / R2, we can write

R = R1*R2 / (R1 + R2)

 Substitute R in the formula for dR/dt and simplify

dR/dt = (R1*R2 / R1*(R1 + R2)) 2dR1/dt

= (R2 / (R1 + R2)) 2dR1/dt