Homework Help: math

Posted by peter on Monday, May 3, 2010 at 11:16pm.

A ladder 14 ft long rests against a vertical wall. Let \theta be the angle between the top of the ladder and the wall and let x be the distance from the bottom of the ladder to the wall. If the bottom of the ladder slides away from the wall, how fast does x change with respect to \theta when \theta = \pi / 3?

math - Reiny, Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 7:34am
sinŲ = x/14

cosŲ = (1/4)dx/dŲ
dx/dŲ = 4cosŲ

so when Ų = π/3
dx/dŲ = 4cosπ/3 = 2
OOPS - math - Reiny, Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 7:40am
somehow my 14 changed to 4,
(need new specks)

so all the 4's are 14's
and last line is
dx/dŲ = 14cos π/3 = 7
OOPS#2 - math - Reiny, Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 7:41am
just realized that drwls had already answered the question correctly,

http://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1272944003

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