Problem: A television camera is positioned 4000 ft from the base of a rocket launching pad.

The
angle of elevation of the camera has to change at the correct rate in order to keep the rocket in
sight. Also, the mechanism for focusing the camera has to take into account the increasing distance
from the camera to the rising rocket. Let us assume the rocket rises vertically and its speed is 900
ft/s when it has risen 3000 ft. How fast is the distance from the television camera to the rocket
changing at that moment?

Solution:

1. Write down the information given in the problem and draw a labelled diagram if necessary

r h

θ
4000’

Let r be the distance of the television camera from the rocket, h be the height of
the rocket and θ be the angle of elevation of the camera. The distance of the television camera from
the base of the rocket launching pad is 4000 ft. Time is represented by t. When h is 3000 ft, the rate

dh
of change of the rocket’s altitude, ,is 900 ft/s.
dt

1. Come up with formulae relating the information given.

We are asked to find how fast the distance from the television camera to the rocket changing when

dr
the rocket has risen 3000 ft, that is . Since we are dealing with a right triangle we can use a
dt
formula using a trigonometric ratio to write r =4000 sec θ .

2. Take the derivative of both sides of the formula in step 2 with respect to t.

dr dθ
= 4000 × sec θ tan θ
dt dt
 dr 5 3 dθ
Reading off from the diagram when h is 3000 ft, we can write =4000 × × ×
dt 4 4 dt

dθ h
3. We now need to find which we can do by writing tanθ= . Then we differentiate
dt 4000

2 dθ 1 dh
both sides with respect to t, with the result sec θ = .
dt 4000 dt

dθ 1 dh
=cos 2 θ × ×
dt 4000 dt

dθ 4 4 1
When h is 3000 ft, = × × ×900 rad /s
dt 5 5 4000

dr 5 3 4 4 1
Hence =4000 × × × × × ×900 ft/s
dt 4 4 5 5 4000

dr
Simplifying we have =540 ft / s
dt

Problem:

t3 t2
A particle’s velocity is given (in units of meters per second) by the function v=1+ − . Find the
10 20
distance travelled from t=0 to t=2.

Solution:
Recall from the study of derivatives that if x (t ) is the position of an object moving along a straight
dx
line at time t , then the velocity of the object is v ( t )= .
dt

The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus says that the difference between the position at time t 1 and
t2

the position at time t 2is determined by the equation ∫ v (t) dt = x (t 2)−x (t 1)

t1

If the object moves from the position x (t 1) to x (t 2), the change x (t 2)−x (t 1) is called the
displacement of the object: ∆ x=x (t 2)−x (t 1 ).

To find the total distance d travelled by the object between the time t 1 and time t 2, we need to
t2

compute the integral of |v (t)| : d=∫ |v (t )| dt

t1
 t3 t 2
Here, v(t)=1+ − .
10 20
We want to calculate |x ( 2 )−x (0)|
2
t3 t2 t4 t3 16 8 34
Hence, ∫ 1+ − dt = t+ − 2 = 2+ − = metres.
0 10 20 40 60 0 40 60 15