Suppose there is a particle that moves according to the law of motion as follows -

s ( t ) =t −6 t 3 +4 t 2 +3. While t ≥ 0, s is meters, and t is seconds, we can precisely solve for the
4

position, velocity, and acceleration at any point on a graph using derivatives. To prove that this is
possible, I will show you using the following methods.

First, I will take the derivative of the original problem, which is - s’(t) = 4 t 3 −18t 2 +8 t .
Doing this, we can find the velocity of the particle at any point in time. This equation that we
just found is also known as the velocity function. All we must do is plug in the time, t, that we
want to find the velocity at and solve the problem. So here is the velocity of the item at 0
seconds - s’(0) = 4 (0)3−18 ( 0 )2+8 ( 0 )=0 m/ s . So, at the beginning of the equation, the particle is
not moving at all.
If you look at this graph, the red line is the original equation, and the green is the
derivative. If you look at the green graph where x = 0, the y also equals zero, meaning that the
velocity of the particle is zero.
Now we can also find when the particle is moving in a positive direction, negative
direction, and when it is at rest. Obviously, while looking at the graph that is easy to tell, but
what would you do when you aren’t given a graph? We are able to do this algebraically by using
velocity function that we found above we are able to find these things out. First, we will set the
function equal to zero and solve for t. This will give us when the velocity is at 0, meaning the
particle is at rest.
3 2
4 t −18t +8 t=0
Which turns into this,
2 t ( 2 t −1 )( t−4 )=0

Which then comes to this,

1
t=0 , , 4
2
Which if you double check with our graph from before, shows that the velocity is in fact
zero at these points. Now, to find where the function is moving positive or negative, we use the
numbers that we just found for zero. What we can do is plug in numbers in between the
numbers we found and above the highest number we found. Since our t ≥ 0, like I stated at the
start of this, we won’t be calculating for times that are less than zero.
You can plug in any number you want, as long as it is on either side of the numbers that
1
we found. So, I plan on using , 2, and 5. So I am going to plug these numbers into our
8
equation
 4 () () ()
1 3
8
−18
1 2
8
+8
1
=
93
8 128

= 4 (2)3−18 ( 2 )2+ 8 ( 2 )=−24

4 (5)3−18 ( 5 )2 +8 ( 5 )=90

Now, the results of these equations are not particularly important, but whether it is
negative or positive is. If the result to the equation is positive, it means that that section of the
equation is moving in the positive direction, and if it is negative then it is moving in the negative
1
direction. So using the results that I just calculated the equation is positive moving at (0, ) U (4,
2
1
∞ ) and negative moving at ( ,4). And if you double check these numbers using the graph from
2
before, you will see that it backs up the claims that I have made.
We are also able to find the total distance traveled by the particle. What we can do is
plug in the values we found where the particle is at rest, 0 m/s, into the original equation as well
as any value of time that we are wanting to find the distance traveled at. This way we can find
the position of the particle at those times and add them all together. We will find the total
distance traveled for the first 6 seconds of time.
4 3 2
(0) −6 ( 0 ) + 4 ( 0 ) +3=3

() () ()
4 3 2
1 1 1 53
−6 +4 +3=
2 2 2 16

(4)4−6 ( 4 )3+ 4 ( 4 )2 +3=−61

4 3 2
(6) −6 ( 6 ) + 4 ( 6 ) +3=147
Now we can take these values, and take the absolute value of difference in the answers -

|3− 5316|+|5316 −(−61)|+|−61−147|=272.625 meterstraveled

If you wanted to find the acceleration of the particle at any given time, we can do that
algebraically as well. What we must do is take the derivative of the Velocity Equation that we
found, which would also be the double derivative of the law of motion from the beginning.

s' ' ( t )=4∗3t 2−18∗2 t+8∗1

When simplified equals this,
'' 2
s ( t )=12 t −36 t +8
 To find the acceleration at any given time we can plug in that time to the new
acceleration equation that we have now. So to find the acceleration at 0 we would
m
12 ( 0 )2−36 ( 0 ) + 8=8
s
So as we can see now, the acceleration of the particle at 0 was 8 m/s 2.

We can find when the particle is slowing down and speeding up as well. We can figure
this out by using the zeros that we had from the velocity equation, and the zeros from the
acceleration equation. So first we will need to get the zeros from the acceleration equation.
2
12 t −36 t +8=0
Simplified to
2
3 t −9 t+2=0
Here we will use the quadratic formula to find the zeros

−(−9)± √ −92−4(3)(2)
x=
2(3)

Which then equals

9− √ 57 9+ √ 57
t= , =.241694 , 2.75831
6 6
Now that we have the zeros to the acceleration equation, we can now test numbers like we did
for the velocity zeros and see if the answers are positive or negative. If the numbers are the
same sign in the same interval, then the speed is increasing, and if the signs are opposite of
each other then the speed is decreasing.
Let us start with testing numbers for the acceleration equation. We will use .2, 2, and 3.

3(.2)2−9 ( .2 ) +2=.32

3(2)2−9 ( 2 ) +2=−4

3(3)2−9 ( 3 )+ 2=2
Now comparing these signs to the signs of the velocity equation, we can see where the
acceleration is increasing and decreasing. The particle is increasing speed on the interval

(0,
9− √57
6 )(
U ,
1 9+ √ 57
2 6 ) (
U ( 4 , ∞ ) and is decreasing on the interval
9−√ 57
6 ) (
,4 U
9+ √57
6
,4 )
Now you can see how much you can do algebraically if you have some knowledge and know
how of the applications of the math.

Here is a graph that shows the values of the Velocity Equation in green and the acceleration
equation in blue. You can see that the intervals that I stated above are consistent with the
graph.
 Reflection
Some problems that I encountered were figuring out when the particle is speeding and
slowing down. I also had issues trying to figure out how to find the total distance that the
particle traveled. I had issues finding this out on the homework that we had as well. What I
ended up doing was looking up a video on YouTube to help me figure out how to easily solve
these. What I found was a video from khan academy, which is channel that has helped me a
number of times before, that helped me understand how to find the solution as well as how to
visualize the result. This helped me immensely when it came to figuring out my issues. Another
challenge I had was finding and accurately using the equation function in word. I have never
used this before but now see that it can be an immensely useful tool to show the work that was
done to find a solution. Some of the real-life applications for derivatives that I have seen are in
profit and loss margins for companies. In our homework we have been able to see a problem
where they want to see what their profit margins would look like if they changed to price of a
product and we are able to solve it by plugging in a few numbers into our equation and solving.
This is something that is incredibly easy and useful after you understand how to use derivatives.