A particle is moving along a path y=x^2 in the 1st quadrant, its x increases at a constant rate 10m/s.

How fast is the angle of inclination theta of the line joining the particle to the origin changing at x=3?

Solution and explanation: the derivative of regarding to t, d/dt, is the answer. What is give is dx/dt=10m/s, and the path function is y=x^2. The first step is to find the relationship of and x. By SOHCAHTOA, tg=y/x (some student may get =tg-1(y/x), then d/dt=tg-1[(dy/dt)/(dx/dt), but this is a mistake about the derivatives. Here we need to get the derivatives correctly at below. ) Using implicit derivatives, (1/cos2)d/dt = (x*dy/dt-y*dx/dt)/(x^2) Then, d/dt = {(x*dy/dt-y*dx/dt)/(x^2)} * cos2 When x=3, we get : Y=x^2=9 Dx/dt=10 Dy/dt=2x*dx/dt=60 cos =x/sqrt(x^2+y^2)=1/sqrt(10) plug then on , we get d /dt=1 P.S. It works too to use cos()=x/sqrt(x^2+y^2), and the result is the same.