Calculus 1 : Calculus

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Calculus 1

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Example Questions

Example Question #53 : How To Find Rate Of Change

A circle's circumference is increasing at a rate of 0.6 feet per second.  If the diameter of the circle is 80 feet at a moment, how fast is the area of the circle increasing at the same moment?

Possible Answers:

None of the above.

Correct answer:

Explanation:

In order to solve this problem, we must know that the circumfrence of a circle is equivalent to .  

Therefore by taking the derivative with respect to time, we obtain 

.  

Given that we know that 

, we can solve for .

 

In order to solve for how fast the area of the circle changes, we must know that the area of a circle is defined as .  

Taking the derivative with respect to time, we obtain 

.

We know that , so by plugging in all the variables, we can solve for .

.

Example Question #51 : How To Find Rate Of Change

Find the rate of change of the function .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The rate of change of a function is its derivative.

 

Recall the following rules of differentiation to help solve this problem.

Power Rule: 

 

 Differentiation rule for tangent: 

Therefore, the rate of change of , by the power rule and the differentiation rule for tangent, is 

.

 

 

Example Question #51 : How To Find Rate Of Change

The sides of a square shrink at a rate of . What is the rate of growth of the square if its sides have lengths of ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The area of a square is given by the formula:

The rate of growth of the area can be related to the rate of growth of sides by differentiating each side with respect to time:

Therefore, the rate of growth of the square is:

 

Example Question #141 : Rate

The area of a circle is increasing at a rate of . If the area of the circle is , what is the rate of increase of the radius?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The area of circle in terms of its radius is given as:

This can be rewritten to find the radius:

In this problem, the radius can be found to be:

Now, relate rates of change by deriving each side of the area equation with respect to time:

Solve then for :

Example Question #2971 : Calculus

A triangle is growing taller at a rate of . If it has a base of  and height of , how fast is the area of the triangle changing?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The area of a triangle in terms of its base and height is given by the formula:

To find how the rates of change of each term relate, derive each side of the equation with respect to time:

The base isn't widening, so 

Therefore:

Example Question #2972 : Calculus

A rectangle is inexplicably changing in shape. Its length is growing at a rate of  and its width is shrinking at a rate of . If the length is  and its width is , what is the rate of change of the area?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The area of a rectangle is given in terms of its length and width as:

.

The rates of change of each parameter with respect to time can be found by deriving each side of the equation with respect to time:

Therefore, with our known values, it's possible to find the inexplicable rate of change of the rectangle. Remember that the width is shrinking, so its rate should be treated as negative:

Example Question #61 : How To Find Rate Of Change

The sides of a square are shrinking at an increasing rate. If the rate of rate increase is  , the rate of increase is  and the sides of a length of , what is the rate at which the rate of growth of the area of the square is changing?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Note for this problem, we're looking for a change in a rate, so this is dealing with second time derivatives:

Relating the area of a square to length:

Leads to

Now, it's important to note that the  term cannot be ignored in this second derivation; treat it like another variable!

Plugging in the given values, this gives:

Example Question #2973 : Calculus

A child is breathing into a bubble wand to create a soap bubble. Treating the bubble as an expanding sphere,  If the sphere has a volume of  and is growing at a rate of , what is the rate of growth of the sphere's radius?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Begin this problem by solving for the radius. The volume of a sphere is given as

Solving for the radius:

Now time rate of change between quantities can be found by deriving each side with respect to time:

Solving for the radius rate of time then gives:

Example Question #2974 : Calculus

A triangle is being stretched in a peculiar way. The base is shrinking at a rate of  while the height is increasing at a rate of . If the height of the triangle is  and the base of the triangle is , what is the rate of change of the triangle's area?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The area of a triangle is given by the function:

The relationship between the rate of change of each parameter can be found by deriving each side of the equation with respect to time:

Example Question #2975 : Calculus

The radius of the base of a cone is increasing at a rate of . If the current radius is  and its height is , what is the rate of growth of its volume?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The volume of a cone is given by the formula:

To relate rate of changes over time, derive each side of the equation with respect to time:

Since height isn't changing, , which leaves:

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