3.17.

RELATED RATES

3.17

Related Rates

3.17.1

Minilecture

94

The volume of a sphere is increasing at a rate of 2 cc/sec. How fast is the radius
increasing when the volume is 10 cc.
What is the big picture idea of related rates and how does it relate to this problem?

Write down the steps to follow for related rates in general and then answer the
question above.

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3.17. RELATED RATES

3.17.2

95

Video Exercises

1. Cone. A 10 cm tall funnel is being drained with water at a constant rate of

10 cc per second. The mouth of the funnel is 12 cm in diameter. How fast is
the solution level dropping when there are 200 cc left in the funnel? See figure
3.13

d=12cm

H=10cm
h

Figure 3.13: Water leaking out of the cone

2. Shadow. A street light is at the top of a 16 ft tall pole. A woman 6 ft tall

walks away from the pole with a speed of 4 ft/sec along a straight path. How
fast is the tip of her shadow moving when she is 35 ft from the base of the
pole? See figure 3.14.

16 ft
6 ft

Figure 3.14: Light casting shadow

3. Airplane. An airplane, flying at 450 km/hr at a constant altitude of 5 km, is
approaching a camera mounted on the ground. Let be the angle of elevation
above the ground at which the camera is pointed. When , how fast does the

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3.17. RELATED RATES

96

camera have to rotate in order to keep the plane in view? See figure 3.15

5 km

Figure 3.15: Airplane flying towards camera

4. Wagon. Jeffrey is pulling on a rope attached to a pulley at the top of a 10
ft tall pole and is attached to a wagon carrying his son on the other end. The
rope is attached to a loop on the wagon that is 2 ft off the ground. Find the
speed of the wagon when it is 12 ft from the pole assuming the rope is being
pulled at 1.5 ft/s. See figure 3.16.

10 ft

2 ft

Figure 3.16: Wagon on a pulley

5. Different Directions. A man starts walking north at 6 ft/s from a point P.
10 minutes later a woman starts walking south at 4 ft/s from a point 100 ft
due east of P. At what rate are the people moving apart 15 minutes after the
woman starts walking? See figure 3.17.

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3.17. RELATED RATES

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100 ft

Figure 3.17: Man and woman walking in different directions

6. Hard Cone. Water is leaking out of an inverted conical tank at a rate of 6000
cubic cm per minute at the same time that water is being pumped into the
tank at a constant rate. The tank has height 700 cm and the the diameter at
the top is 600 cm. If the water level is rising at a rate of 29 cm/min when the
height of the water is 150 cm, find the rate at which water is being pumped
into the tank in cubic centimeters per minute.

d=600cm

H=700cm
h

Figure 3.18: Water going in and out of the cone

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