Math  /  Geometry

QuestionExample 3 A plane flying north at 640 miles per hour passes over a certain town at noon, and a second plane going east at 600 miles per hour is directly over the same town 15 minutes later. If the planes are flying at the same altitude, how fast will they be separating at 1:151: 15 p.m.?

Studdy Solution

STEP 1

What is this asking? How fast are two planes moving apart from each other at a specific time, given their speeds and directions? Watch out! Don't forget to convert minutes to hours, and remember we're looking for the rate of change of the *distance* between the planes!

STEP 2

1. Set up the variables and the relationship between them.
2. Differentiate with respect to time.
3. Plug in the known values.

STEP 3

Let tt be the time in hours after noon.
Let xx be the distance the eastbound plane has traveled, and yy be the distance the northbound plane has traveled.
Let ss be the distance between the two planes.

STEP 4

We can use the Pythagorean theorem to relate these variables: x2+y2=s2x^2 + y^2 = s^2.
This is because the planes' paths form a right triangle, with xx and yy as the legs and ss as the hypotenuse.

STEP 5

We know that the northbound plane is traveling at 640 mph, so y=640ty = 640t.
The eastbound plane starts 15 minutes (or 14\frac{1}{4} hour) later, so its distance traveled is x=600(t14)x = 600(t - \frac{1}{4}).

STEP 6

Now, we **differentiate** both sides of the Pythagorean equation with respect to time tt: ddt(x2+y2)=ddt(s2) \frac{d}{dt}(x^2 + y^2) = \frac{d}{dt}(s^2) 2xdxdt+2ydydt=2sdsdt 2x \cdot \frac{dx}{dt} + 2y \cdot \frac{dy}{dt} = 2s \cdot \frac{ds}{dt} Remember, dxdt\frac{dx}{dt} is the speed of the eastbound plane, and dydt\frac{dy}{dt} is the speed of the northbound plane!
And dsdt\frac{ds}{dt} is what we want to find: the rate at which the distance between the planes is changing.

STEP 7

We can divide both sides of the equation by 22 to simplify: xdxdt+ydydt=sdsdt x \cdot \frac{dx}{dt} + y \cdot \frac{dy}{dt} = s \cdot \frac{ds}{dt}

STEP 8

We want to find dsdt\frac{ds}{dt} at t=1.25t = 1.25 (1:15 pm).
First, let's find xx and yy at this time: x=600(1.250.25)=600(1)=600 x = 600(1.25 - 0.25) = 600(1) = \textbf{600} y=640(1.25)=800 y = 640(1.25) = \textbf{800}

STEP 9

Now we can find ss using the Pythagorean theorem: s=x2+y2=6002+8002=360000+640000=1000000=1000 s = \sqrt{x^2 + y^2} = \sqrt{600^2 + 800^2} = \sqrt{360000 + 640000} = \sqrt{1000000} = \textbf{1000}

STEP 10

We know dxdt=600\frac{dx}{dt} = 600 and dydt=640\frac{dy}{dt} = 640.
Now we can plug everything into our differentiated equation: (600)(600)+(800)(640)=(1000)dsdt (600)(600) + (800)(640) = (1000) \cdot \frac{ds}{dt} 360000+512000=1000dsdt 360000 + 512000 = 1000 \cdot \frac{ds}{dt} 872000=1000dsdt 872000 = 1000 \cdot \frac{ds}{dt}

STEP 11

Finally, we solve for dsdt\frac{ds}{dt}: dsdt=8720001000=872 \frac{ds}{dt} = \frac{872000}{1000} = \textbf{872}

STEP 12

At 1:15 pm, the planes are separating at a rate of **872** miles per hour.

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