Worksheet 5 – Rate of Change 201

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Objective: To use derivative in solving rate of change problems.

1 2
1. The area of a sector in a circle is given by the formula A =
2
r θ where r is
the radius and θ is the central angle measured in radians.

a. Find the rate of change of A with respect to θ if r remains constant.

b. Find the rate of change of A with respect to r if θ remains constant.
c. Find the rate of change of θ with respect to r if A remains constant.

2. As air is pumped into a spherical balloon, the radius increases at the constant
rate of 2 centimeters per second. What is the rate of change of the balloon’s
volume when the radius is 10 centimeters? (The volume V of a sphere of
4
radius r is 3
πr 3 .)

3. An equilateral triangle of side length x and altitude h has area A given by

3 2 2 3
A= x where x = h.
4 3

Find the rate of change of A with respect to h and determine this rate of
change when h = 2 3 .

4. An object moves along the x-axis, its position at each time t ≥ 0 is given by
x(t ) = t 4 − 4t 3 + 4t 2 + 2 . Determine the times, if any, at which

a. the velocity is zero,

b. the acceleration is zero.

5. If a stone is thrown vertically upward from the surface of the moon with a
velocity of 10 m/s, its height (in meters) after t seconds is h = 10 t − 0.83t 2 .
a. What is the velocity of the stone after 3 s?
b. What is the velocity of the stone after it has risen 25 m?

6. Find equations for the lines that are tangent and normal to the curve
x 3 y 3 + y 2 = x + y at the points (1,1) and (1,-1).

7. Find equations for the lines that are tangent and normal to the curve
f ( x ) = sin 2 x 1 + x 2 at the points (0,0).

1 FAM 0035 January 2010

 Worksheet 5 – Rate of Change 201
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8. Find equation for all tangents to the curve y = x 3 − x that passes through the
point (-2,2).

9. Find the equation of the tangent line to the curve ( xy 3 + y ) 2 = 4 x at the point
(1,1).

10. Given the curve x 2 y + 3x 2 y 3 = 4

dy
a. Find .
dx
b. Find the equation of the normal line at the point (-1, 1).
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11. The position of an object is given by the function s (t ) = 36 t − t 3 , for
3
0 ≤ t ≤10 , where s (t ) is measured in meters and t is measured in
seconds.
a. Find the acceleration when the velocity is zero.
b. What does negative acceleration mean?
c. Find the instantaneous velocity of the object when t = 5 seconds.

12. A particle moves on a vertical line so that its coordinate at time t is

y = t 3 −12 t + 3, t ≥ 0.

a. Find the velocity and acceleration functions.

b. When the particle moving upward and when is it moving downward?
c. Find the distance that the particle travel in the time interval 0 ≤ t ≤ 3.
d. When is the particle speeding up? When is it slowing down?

13. After an advertising campaign, the sales of a product often increase and then
decrease. Suppose that t days after the end of the advertising, the daily sales
are f (t ) = −3t 2 + 32 t +100 units. What is the average rate of growth in sales
during the fourth day? What is the instantaneous rate of growth in sales when
t = 2?

14. A helicopter is rising at a rate of 32 feet per second. At the height of 128 feet
the pilot drops a pair of binoculars. After t seconds, the binoculars have
height s (t ) = −16 t 2 + 32 t +128 feet from the ground. How fast will they be
falling when they hit the ground?

2 FAM 0035 January 2010