2) A boat is pulled into a dock by means of a rope attached to a pulley on the dock (see the

accompanying figure). The rope is attached to the bow of the boat at a point 10 ft below the
pulley. If the rope is pulled through the pulley at a rate of 20 ft/min, at what rate will the boat
be approaching the dock when 125 ft of rope is out?

Solution

Let x= be a distance from the dock to the boat

y= be a length of the rope (from pulley to boat)

z= pulley to dock (10 ft)

Since z is 10 ft, then the variables x and y are related by using the Pythagorean Theorem, so
we have

𝑥2 + 𝑧2 = 𝑦2

𝑥 2 + 102 = 𝑦 2

If y=125, so find the value of x by using 𝑥 2 + 102 = 𝑦 2

𝑥 2 + 102 = 𝑦 2

𝑥 2 + 102 = 1252

𝑥 2 = 15625 − 100

𝑥 2 = 15525

𝑥 = √15525

= 15√69

ⅆ𝑦
We know ⅆ𝑡
= 20 𝑓𝑡/𝑚𝑖𝑛 , so we need to find the rate will the boat be approaching the dock
ⅆ𝑥
which is ⅆ𝑡
=?
 ⅆ𝑥 ⅆ
To find , we differentiate both side of ( 𝑥 2 + 102 = 𝑦 2 ) with respect to the variable t, .
ⅆ𝑡 ⅆ𝑡

ⅆ ⅆ
(𝑥 2 + 102 ) = (𝑦 2 )
ⅆ𝑡 ⅆ𝑡

ⅆ𝑥 ⅆ𝑦
2𝑥 ⅆ𝑡 = 2𝑦 ⅆ𝑡

ⅆ𝑥 𝑦 ⅆ𝑦
=
ⅆ𝑡 𝑥 ⅆ𝑡

This is where we use y=125 and x=15√69 .

ⅆ𝑦
ⅆ𝑡
= 20 𝑓𝑡/𝑚𝑖𝑛

ⅆ𝑥 𝑦 ⅆ𝑦
=
ⅆ𝑡 𝑥 ⅆ𝑡

ⅆ𝑥 125
= (20)
ⅆ𝑡 15√69

= 20.06 ft/min

So the boat approaches the dock at 20.06 ft/min.