3.7.

Related rates and

applications
We consider a problem
dy dx
Find where 2 x  3 y  5  0 and 3
dt dt
when x  5.
 General problem

Let x  x t  and y  y t  are implicit

functions defined by the equation y  f  x .
dx dy
Known or at an indicated x, find the
dt dt
other.
 The method

Differentiate the equation y  f  x  respect to

dx dy
t to find the relation between and .
dt dt
dx dy
Find or at the indicated x.
dt dt
 Example

dx 2 dy
Find where y  2 x  3 x  4 and  46
dt dt
when x  5.
 Applications

Example
A spherical balloon is being filled with a gas in
such a way that when the radius is 2 ft, the
radius is increasing at the rate of 1/ 6 ft/ min.
How fast is the volume changing at this time?
Example

A person 6 ft tall is
walking away from a
street light 20 ft high at
the rate of 7 ft/ s. At
what rate is the length
of the person’s shadow
increasing?
 The method to solve related
rate problem
Step 1. Modelling the practice problem
 Assign variables to the quantities that vary.
 Find a formula or equation that relates the
variables.
 Express the assumption and the
requirement of the problem.
 The method to solve related
rate problem
Step 2. Solve the problem
 Differentiate the equations (often respect
to t).
 Substitute specific numerical values and
solve algebraically for any required rate.
 Exercises

• 23, 25, 27, 28, 35-38 : individual exercises.

• 39—60: group exercises
3.8. Linear approximation and
differentials
• Tangent line approximation
• The differential
• Error propagation
• Marginal analysis in economics
• The Newton-Raphson method for
approximating roots
 Tangent line approximation

Consider a curve y  f  x  and a point

P  a, f  a  on the curve.
What is the equation of the tangent line at P ?
Observe the graphs.
 Tangent line approximation
With x near a, we have
f  x   f  a   f '  a  x  a  (*)
We refer to this as a linear approximation of
f  x  at x  a .
The function
L  x   f  a   f '  a  x  a 
is called a linearization of the function at the
point x  a .
 Linear approximation

Let x  x  a, y  f  x   f  a , we have
y  f '  a  x .
Incremental approximation formula
 Differential

Let x be fixed and define dx, called the

differential of x, to be independent variable
equal to x .
If f is differentiable at x , we define dy , called
the differential of y, by the formula
dy  f '  x  dx , or df  x   f '  x  dx .
 Differential rules

• See page …
 Example

Find d  x 2 sin x .
 Example
1
Approximate using differentials, and
3,98
compare with a calculator approximation.
 Error propagation

• Error that accumulates from other errors in

an approximation
• Maximum error in calculation based on
figures obtained by imperfect measurement
 Example

You measure the side of a cube and find it to

be 10 cm long. From this you conclude that
the volume of the cube is . If your original
measurement of the side is accurate to within
2% approximately how accurate is your
calculation of the volume?
 Propagation of error

If x represents the measured value of a

variable and x  x represents the exact value,
then x is the error in measurement. The
difference between f  x  x  and f  x  is
called the propagated error at x and is defined
by
f  f  x  x   f  x .
 Error propagation

f df
The relative error is  .
f f
 f 
The percentage error is 100  %.
 f 
 Example

A certain container is modelled by a right

circular cylinder whose height is twice the
radius of the base. The radius is measured to
be 17.3 cm, with a maximum measurement
error of 0,02 cm. Estimate the corresponding
propagated error, the relative error, and the
percentage error when calculating the surface
area S.
 Marginal Analysis in
Economics
Marginal analysis: area of economics
conecerned with estimating the effect on the
quatities such as cost, revenue, and profit
when the level of production is changed by a
unit amount.
 Marginal cost

C(x): the cost of producing x units

MC(x): additional cost of producing one more
unit
 Marginal revenue

R(x): revenue obtained from producing x

units
Marginal revenue: additional revenue
obtained from producing one more unit
 Example
A manufacturer models the total cost (in dollars) of a
particular commodity by the function
1 2
C  x   x  3 x  98
8
and the price per item (in dollars) by
1
p x  75  x 
3
where x is the number of items produced ( 0  x  50 ).
 Example

a. Find the marginal cost and the marginal revenue.

b. Use marginal cost to estimate the cost of
producing the 9th unit? What is the actual cost of
producing the 9th unit?
c. Use marginal revenue to estimate the revenue
derived from producing the 9th unit? What is the
actual revenue derived from producing the 9th
unit?
The Newton-Raphson Method
for Approximating Roots
 The Newton-Raphson Method
for Approximating Roots
Chose a starting point x0 such that
f  x0  f ''  x0   0 .
Generate the sequence
f  xn 
xn1  xn 
f '  xn 
 Example

Approximate a real root of the equation

x 3  x  1  0 on 2;2.
 Exercises

• Chapter review, Supplementary