All Calculus 1 Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #201 : Calculus 3
Given the velocity function , find the acceleration function .
We know that acceleration is the derivative of velocity with respect to time.
We also know that the velocity function is given by
We need to apply the product rule to solve for the derivative.
Recall that the product rule is given by:
In our case, and
Therefore,
We can reduce some terms in the acceleration function.
The final answer can be given as
Example Question #231 : How To Find Acceleration
A mail company uses air tubes in order to send its mail from one part of the building to the other. The main tube sends mail with increasing speed in one direction, and the position of the mail at a time t (in seconds) after being sent is given by the formula
What is the acceleration of the mail in the tube?
The acceleration of the mail is equal to the second derivative of its postion. The first derivative of the position gives the velocity, since it is how the position of the mail is changing over time. The derivative of the velocity gives how the velocity is changing over time, which is the acceleration.
In order to take the derivative of the position equation, use the power rule. Bring the exponent to the front of the term, multiple it by the constant in front of , and reduce the exponent by one. If the term does not include the variable, the derivative of the constant will be equal to zero.
Now that the velocity has been derived from the position function, the acceleration can be found by taking the derivative of the velocity function. Once again using the power rule to differentiate:
This gives the acceleration function.
Example Question #231 : How To Find Acceleration
Suppose an object's acceleration is described by , where is in seconds. What is the objects acceleration after three minutes?
No integration is required for this question. Simply convert three minutes to seconds. There are 60 seconds in a minute, which means that there are 180 seconds in three minutes.
Substitute 180 seconds into the acceleration equation.
Example Question #231 : Acceleration
Find acceleration at given the position function below.
To solve, simply differentiate the position function twice and evaluate at . Thus,
Example Question #232 : Acceleration
Find the acceteration at , given the velocity function below.
To solve, simply differentiate to find the acceleration function and then plug in .
Example Question #233 : Acceleration
Find the acceleration at given the following position function.
To find acceleration at a point, simply differentiate the position function twie and then plug in . Thus,
Example Question #235 : How To Find Acceleration
Determine the position of the ball at if the acceleration function of the ball is .
Integrate the acceleration function twice to obtain the position function.
Integrate again for position.
There are two unknown constants and . Without the initial conditions for velocity and position, we cannot find the position of the ball at .
The answer is:
Example Question #236 : How To Find Acceleration
Find the acceleration of a ball at if its velocity is given by the following function:
The acceleration of the ball is given by the first derivative of the ball's velocity function:
The derivative was found using the following rule:
Now, find the acceleration at by plugging in into the function:
Example Question #237 : How To Find Acceleration
Let describe the position of a particle traveling along the -axis where each unit is inch.
Find the acceleration rate of the particle at seconds.
There is not enough information given to determine the answer.
We know that acceleration is the derivative of velocity which is the derivative of position therefore, for this particular problem we will need to take the derivative of the position twice.
For this particular function we will need to use the power rule to find the derivative.
The power rule states, .
Also recall, the derivative of a constant is always zero.
Applying the above rules to the position function we can first find our velocity.
Now to find the acceleration we will need to apply the power rule to the velocity function.
Hence, the acceleration is a constant for all times, .
Example Question #233 : How To Find Acceleration
The position of a particle traveling along the axis is described by
.
What is the acceleration rate of the particle when have passed?
To find the acceleration of a particle at a specific time we will need to take the derivative of the poistion function twice. Taking the derivative of position onces gives us the velocity function. Taking the derivative a second time will result in the acceleration function.
Since ,
we will apply the power rule for differentiation which state, .
Therefore applying it once we get,
From here we will apply the power rule one more time to find the acceleration function.
Now substitute to find the specific acceleration the question is asking for.