Cambridge Physics PhD Tutor IB DSE IGCSE SAT

UC Math MA, HKU Chemist hinwahk@gmail.com

HKU 1st Hons Engineer 93197825 AP MCAT GCE

Rate Problems:
Steps:
① Read the question and identify key words and information
② Formulate the main relation and rates in mathematical form.
③ Differentiate the main relation to get the relation between various rates
④ Put in rates
⑤ Solve
⑥ Put down appropriate unit for answer.

Example 1
A street lamp is 8m directly above a straight path. A man 2m high walks towards the lamp at a constant
speed of 1.5 m/s. At what rate is his shadow changing in length?
Solution:
Suppose he is x m from the lamp and his length of shadow is s

rs 8

s 2 2m 8m
r  3s
dr
3
ds s r
dt dt
ds dr
 1.53   1.5
dt dt
ds
 0.5cm / s
dt
Hence, his shadow length is decreasing at a rate of 0.5 m/s.

Example 2
Initially, the radius of circle is 20cm. Now, the radius is increasing at a rate of 1cm/s. How fast is the
area changing 10 seconds later?
Solution:
A   r2
dA d( r 2 ) dr r
  2 r
dt dt dt
dA dr
 2 30(1)  1 and r  20  10  30 at t  10
dt dt
dA
 60 cm 2 /s
dt


 Cambridge Physics PhD Tutor IB DSE IGCSE SAT
UC Math MA, HKU Chemist hinwahk@gmail.com
HKU 1st Hons Engineer 93197825 AP MCAT GCE

Example 3
Air is blown into a spherical balloon at a rate of 9πcm3/s. Calculate the rate at which radius of the balloon
is changing when the radius is 3 cm
Solution:
4 r 3
V
3
dV 4 3r 2 dr dr
  4 r 2
dt 3 dt dt
dr dV
9  4 3 2  r  3,  9
dt dt
dr 1
  0.25 cm / s
dt 4

Example 4
The surface area of a sphere is increasing at a rate of 8πcm2/s. When the radius is 10cm, how fast is the
radius changing? And how fast is the volume changing?
Solution:
Let A be the surface area, V be the volume and r be the radius.

4 r 3
A  4 r 2 V
3
dA dr
 8 r dV 4  3r 2 dr dr
dt dt   4 r 2
dt 3 dt dt
dr dA
8  8 10 r  10,  8 dV dr
dt dt  4 10 2 (0.1) r  10,  0.1
dt dt
dr 1
  0.1 cm /s dV
dt 10  40 cm 3 /s
dt
Ans. 0.1 cm/s, 40πcm3/s

HKDSE M2 Sample Question: 
A snowball in a shape of sphere is melting with its volume decreasing at a constant rate of 4 cm 3 s- 1 . When
its radius is 5 cm, find the rate of change of its radius.
Solution: (4 marks)
4 r 3
V
3
dV 4 3r 2 dr dr
  4 r 2
dt 3 dt dt
dV
 r  5,  4
dt
dr
 4  4 52
dt
dr 1
 cm / s
dt 25

1
Rate of change of radius is cm / s
25
 Cambridge Physics PhD Tutor IB DSE IGCSE SAT
UC Math MA, HKU Chemist hinwahk@gmail.com
HKU 1st Hons Engineer 93197825 AP MCAT GCE

Example 5
A tank is in the form of an inverted right cone of which the base radius is 5cm and the height is 10cm.
Water is poured in at a rate of 2cm3/second. When the water depth is 8cm, how fast is the water depth
increasing? How fast is the water surface area increasing?
Solution:
Let the water surface area be A.

h 10 h
 2r
r 5 2
rh h
2 3
V 
3 12
dV  3h dh  h 2 dh
2
 
dt 12 dt 4 dt
 8 dh
2
dV
2 h  8, 2
4 dt dt
dh 1
 cm /s
dt 8

2  h2
A r 
4
dA 2 h dh

dt 4 dt
2 8 1 dh 1
 ( ) h  8, 
4 8 dt 8
1
  0.5cm 2 /s
2

Example 6 instantaneous rate of change

During a flood, the height of a river above its normal level is approximately
H(t) = t4 – 8t3 + 16t2 feet after t days for 0 ≤ t ≤ 4. About how fast is the river rising at
the end of the first day?
Solution The question concerns the instantaneous rate of change in the river’s height with
respect to time. That rate after t days is H ' (t )  4t 3  24t 2  32t feet per day. At the
end of the first day, the river is rising at a rate of H ' (1)  12 feet per day.
 Cambridge Physics PhD Tutor IB DSE IGCSE SAT
UC Math MA, HKU Chemist hinwahk@gmail.com
HKU 1st Hons Engineer 93197825 AP MCAT GCE

Example 7
The volume of a right circular cylinder is 30 cm3, and is increasing at a rate of 2 cm3/s. Let the volume, the
h
base radius and the height of the cylinder be V cm3, cm and h cm respectively.
4
(a) Express V and h in terms of t.
(b) Find the rate of change of the height after
(i) 3 seconds,
(ii) 6 seconds.
(Give the answers correct to 3 significant figures.)
Solution:
(a) After t seconds, V increases 2t.  V = 30 + 2t
h
 V  π( ) 2 h
4
πh3

16
16V
 h3
π
32(10  t )
3
π
32(10  t )
 h3
π
2

dh 1  32(10  t )  3 32
(b)  
dt 3  π  π
2

32  32(10  t )  3

3 π  π 
(i) When t = 3,
2

dh 32  32(10  3)  3
  The rate of change of the height after 3 seconds is 0.131 cm/s.
dt 3 π  π 

 0.131 , cor. to 3 sig. fig.

(ii) When t = 6,
2

dh 32  32(10  6)  3
  The rate of change of the height after 6 seconds is 0.114 cm/s.
dt 3 π  π 

 0.114 , cor. to 3 sig. fig.
 Cambridge Physics PhD Tutor IB DSE IGCSE SAT
UC Math MA, HKU Chemist hinwahk@gmail.com
HKU 1st Hons Engineer 93197825 AP MCAT GCE

Sample HKDSE M2 Question:

When a hot air balloon is being blown up, its radius r (in m) will increase with time t (in hr). They are
2
related by r  3  , where t ≥0 . It is known that the volume V (in m3) of the balloon is given by
2t
4
V  r 3
3
Find the rate of change, in terms of , of the volume of the balloon when the radius is 2.5 m.
(4 marks).
Solution:

2
r  3 
2t
dr 2
 
dt (2  t) 2
4
V  r 3
3
dV dr
  4r 2
dt dt
2
Now, r=2.5, 2.5  3 
2t
t=2
dr 2 1
r=2.5, t=2 ⇒  
dt (2  2) 2
8
dV 1
 4 (2.5) 2
dt 8
⇒
25

8
25 3
Rate of change of volume of balloon= m /hr
8
 Cambridge Physics PhD Tutor IB DSE IGCSE SAT
UC Math MA, HKU Chemist hinwahk@gmail.com
HKU 1st Hons Engineer 93197825 AP MCAT GCE

Related Rates Example

Problem: A camera is mounted at a point 3000 ft from the base of a rocket
launching pad. If the rocket is rising vertically at 880 ft/s when it is
4000 ft above the launching pad, how fast must the camera elevation
angle at that instant to keep the camera aimed at the rocket?

Solution: Let t = number of seconds elapsed from the time of launch

θ = camera elevation angle in radians after t seconds
h = height of the rocket in feet after t seconds

We must find dθ/dt (at h= 4000) given that dh/dt (at h=4000) = 880 ft/s
h
tan θ = ---------- (relate variables involved)
3000
dθ 1 dh
sec²θ ------ = -------- ------ (differentiating with respect to t)
h dt 3000 dt

dθ 1 dh
θ ----- = -------- ------ cos²θ (solving for dθ /dt)
 3000  dt 3000 dt
at h = 4000
adj 3 dθ 1 3 66
cos θ = ------ = --- ----- = -------- (880) (-----)² = ------ ≈ 0.11 rad/s ≈ 6.05 deg/s
hyp 5 dt 3000 5 625
 Cambridge Physics PhD Tutor IB DSE IGCSE SAT
UC Math MA, HKU Chemist hinwahk@gmail.com
HKU 1st Hons Engineer 93197825 AP MCAT GCE

Example 8 Marginal cost

Suppose that a manufacturer can produce x television sets per week at a cost of C(x) =
50,000 + 300x + 0.01x2 dollars.
b(a) Find the weekly cost of increasing production from 100 to 101 sets per week.
(b) Find C (100) .
(c) Explain why the results in parts (a) and (b) should be approximately equal.
Solution (a) The cost is C(101) – C(100) = $80,402.01 – $80,100 = $302.01.
(b) The derivative of C(x) is C ( x)  300  0.02 x , so C (100)  302 .
(c) The result in part (a) is the average rate of change in C(x) over the interval [100,
101]. The result in part (b) is the instantaneous rate of change in C(x) at x = 100.
Because an interval of length 1 can be considered small in this context, it is
reasonable to expect the two results to be close.

Example 9 Marginal Revenue & Marginal Profit

The manufacturer in Example 4.7 obtains a weekly revenue of R(x) = 500x – 0.2x2
dollars from the sale of x television sets per week.
(a) Find the marginal revenue function and evaluate it for x = 100.
(b) Find the revenue derived from the sale of the 101st television set, and compare
this result with that in part (a).
(c) Find the marginal profit function and evaluate it for x = 100.
(d) Find the profit derived from the sale of the 101st television set, and compare this
result with that in part (c).
Solution (a) The marginal revenue function is R ( x)  500  0.4 x , so R (100)  460 .
(b) The revenue derived from the sale of the 101st set is R(101) – R(100)
= 48,459.80 – 48,000 = $459.80. This differs from the result in part (a) by only
$0.20.
(c) Because profit is the difference between revenue and cost, the manufacturer’s
profit function is P(x) = R(x) – C(x). The marginal profit function is
P ( x)  R ( x)  C ( x)  (500  0.4 x)  (300  0.02 x)  200  0.42 x ,
so P (100)  158 .
(d) The profit derived from the sale of the 101st set is the difference between the
revenue derived from the sale (Example 4.8b) and the cost of production
(Example 4.7a), which is $459.80 - $302.01 = $157.79. This differs from the
result in part (c) by only $0.21.
 Cambridge Physics PhD Tutor IB DSE IGCSE SAT
UC Math MA, HKU Chemist hinwahk@gmail.com
HKU 1st Hons Engineer 93197825 AP MCAT GCE

Your Turn!
Q1 The volume of a cone is increasing at a rate of 28 cubic inches per second. At the instant
when the radius r of the cone is 3 inches, its volume is 12 cubic inches and the radius is
increasing at ½ inch/second.
a. At the instant when the radius of the cone is 3 inches, what is the rate of change of the area of its base?

b. At the instant when the radius of the cone is 3 inches, what is the rate of change of its height?

c. At the instant when the radius of the cone is 3 inches, what is the instantaneous rate of change of the area of
its base with respect to its height?

3
Answers: a. 3 sq. in./sec b. 8 in/sec c. in.
8

Q2 Water is withdrawn from a conical reservoir 10 ft in diameter and 10 ft deep ( vertex down ) at a
constant rate of 5ft3/min. How fast is the water level falling when the depth of water is 5 ft?
Q3 A man 5 ft tall walks at a rate of 5 ft/sec toward a street light that is 15 ft above the ground. At
what rate is the tip of his shadow moving? At what rate is the length of his shadow changing when he
is 10 ft from the base of the light?
Q4 2 ships A and B are sailing away from the point O along routes such that the angle AOB = 60o.
How fast is the distance between them changing if, at a certain instant, OA = 8 km, OB = 6 km, ship A is
sailing at the rate of 20 km/hr and ship B at the rate of 30 km/hr?
Hint. Use the law of cosines.

Other problems
1. A small balloon is released at a point 150 feet away from an observer, who is on level ground. If the balloon goes

straight up at a rate of 8 feet per second, how fast is the distance from the observer to the balloon increasing when

the balloon is 50 feet high? How fast is the angle of elevation increasing?
2. Water is pouring into a conical cistern at the rate of 8 cubic feet per minute. If the height of the cistern is 12 feet

and the radius of its circular opening is 6 feet, how fast is the water level rising when the water is 4 feet deep?

3. A particle P is moving along the graph of y = √¯x¯²̄ -̄¯¯4¯ , x ≥ 2, so that the x coordinate of P is increasing at
the rate of 5 units per second. How fast is the y coordinate of P increasing when x = 3?

4. Air leaks out of a balloon at a rate of 3 cubic feet per minute. How fast is the surface area shrinking when the

radius is 10 feet? (Note: SA = 4πr² & V = 4/3 πr³)

5. A cube of ice is melting uniformly so that the sides of cube are being reduced by 0.01 in/min. Find the rate of

change of the volume when the cube has a side of 2 in.

6. A stone is thrown into a pond creating a circle with an expanding radius. How fast is the distributed area
expanding when the radius of the circle is 10 feet and is expanding at 1 foot per second?

7. Sand is pouring into a conical pile at the rate of 25 cubic inches per minute. The radius is always twice the height.

Find the rate at which the radius of the base is increasing when the pile is 18 inches high. (Note: V = (1/3)

πr²h)
 Cambridge Physics PhD Tutor IB DSE IGCSE SAT
UC Math MA, HKU Chemist hinwahk@gmail.com
HKU 1st Hons Engineer 93197825 AP MCAT GCE

8. A television camera 2000 feet from the launch pad at ground level is filming the lift-off of the space shuttle. The

shuttle is rising at a rate of 1000 feet per second. Find the rate of change of the angle of elevation of the camera

when the shuttle is 5000 feet from the ground.

9. A stone is dropped into a lake causing circular waves where the radius is increasing at a constant rate of 5 meters
per second. At what rate is the circumference changing when the radius is 4 meters? (Note: C = 2πr)

10. A boat is pulled toward a pier by means of a cable. If the boat is 12 feet below the level of the pier and the cable

is being pulled in at a rate of 4 feet per second, how fast is the boat moving toward the pier when 13 feet of cable is
out?