Applications of Derivatives 4

At the end of this session, students will be able to use derivatives and
differentiation to determine the rates of change and get the largest value or
the smallest value of a function.

Related Rates
In this section we are going to look at an application of implicit
differentiation.
For related rates problems it’s usually best to just jump right into some
problems and see how they work.

Consider a sphere of radius 10cm.

If the radius changes 0.1cm (a very small amount) how much does the
volume change?

The volume would change by approximately

Suppose that the radius is changing at an instantaneous rate of 0.1 cm/sec.

(Possible if the sphere is a soap bubble or a balloon.)

The sphere is growing at a rate of .

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Note: This is an exact answer, not an approximation like we got with the
differential problems.

Water is draining from a cylindrical tank at 3 liters/second.

How fast is the surface dropping?

Steps for Related Rates Problems:

1. Draw a picture (sketch).
2. Write down known information.
3. Write down what you are looking for.
4. Write an equation to relate the variables.
5. Differentiate both sides with respect to t.
6. Evaluate.

Hot Air Balloon Problem:

Given:
How fast is the balloon rising?
 Truck Problem:
Truck A travels east at 40 mi/hr. Truck B travels north at 30 mi/hr.
How fast is the distance between the trucks changing 6 minutes later?

Modeling and Optimization

In optimization problems we are looking for the largest value or the smallest
value that a function can take. We saw how to solve one kind of optimization
problem in the Absolute Extrema section where we found the largest and
smallest value that a function would take on an interval.

In this section we will also look at another type of optimization problem.

Here we will be looking for the largest or smallest value of a function subject
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to some kind of constraint. The constraint will be some condition (that can
usually be described by some equation) that must absolutely, positively be
true no matter what our solution is. On occasion, the constraint will not be
easily described by an equation, but in these problems it will be easy to deal
with as we’ll see.

This section is generally one of the more difficult for students taking a
Calculus course. One of the main reasons for this is that a subtle change of
wording can completely change the problem. There is also the problem of
identifying the quantity that we’ll be optimizing and the quantity that is the
constraint and writing down equations for each.

A Classic Problem

You have 40 feet of fence to enclose a rectangular garden along the side of a
barn. What is the maximum area that you can enclose?

To find the maximum (or minimum) value of a function:

1) Write it in terms of one variable.
2) Find the first derivative and set it equal to zero.
3) Check the end points if necessary.
 Example 1: What dimensions for a one liter cylindrical can will use the least
amount of material?

Notes:
1) If the function that you want to optimize has more than one variable, use
substitution to rewrite the function.
2) If you are not sure that the extreme you’ve found is a maximum or a
minimum, you have to check.
3) If the end points could be the maximum or minimum, you have to check.

Example 2: We need to enclose a field with a fence. We have 500 feet of

fencing material and a building is on one side of the field and so won’t need
any fencing. Determine the dimensions of the field that will enclose the
largest area.

Solution
In this problem we have two functions. The first is the function that we are
actually trying to optimize and the second will be the constraint. Sketching
the situation will often help us to arrive at these equations so let’s do that.

In this problem we want to maximize the area of a field and we know that
will use 500 ft of fencing material. So, the area will be the function we are
trying to optimize and the amount of fencing is the constraint.

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The two equations for these are,
Maximize : A = xy Contraint : 500 = x + 2y
We know how to find the largest or smallest value of a function provided it’s
only got a single variable. The area function (as well as the constraint) has
two variables in it and so what we know about finding absolute extrema
won’t work. However, if we solve the constraint for one of the two variables
we can substitute this into the area and we will then have a function of a
single variable.
So, let’s solve the constraint for x. Note that we could have just as easily
solved for y but that would have led to fractions and so, in this case, solving
for x will probably be best.
x = 500 – 2y
Substituting this into the area function gives a function of y.

Now we want to find the largest value this will have on the interval [0,250].
Note that the interval corresponds to taking y = 0 (i.e. no sides to the fence)
and y = 250 (i.e. only two sides and no width, also if there are two sides each
must be 250 ft to use the whole 500ft).
So, recall that the maximum value of a continuous function (which we’ve got
here) on a closed interval (which we also have here) will occur at critical
points and/or end points. As we’ve already pointed out the end points in this
case will give zero area and so don’t make any sense. That means our only
option will be the critical points.
So let’s get the derivative and find the critical points.

Setting this equal to zero and solving gives a lone critical point of y=125 .
Plugging this into the area gives an area of 31250 ft2. So according to the
method from Absolute Extrema section this must be the largest possible area,
since the area at either endpoint is zero.
Finally, let’s not forget to get the value of x and then we’ll have the
dimensions since this is what the problem statement asked for. We can get
the x by plugging in our y into the constraint.
X = 500 - 2(125) = 250x
The dimensions of the field that will give the largest area, subject to the fact
that we used exactly 500 ft of fencing material, are 250 x 125.

Example 3: We want to construct a box whose base length is 3 times the

base width. The material used to build the top and bottom cost $10/ft 2 and
 the material used to build the sides cost $6/ft 2. If the box must have a
volume of 50ft3 determine the dimensions that will minimize the cost to
build the box.

Solution
First, draw the figure.

We want to minimize the cost of the materials subject to the constraint that
the volume must be 50ft3. Note as well that the cost for each side is just the
area of that side times the appropriate cost.
The two functions we’ll be working with here this time are,

Solve the constraint for one of the variables and plug this into the cost. It will
definitely be easier to solve the constraint for h so let’s do that.

Plugging this into the cost gives,

Now, let’s get the first and second (we’ll be needing this later…) derivatives,

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 There are two critical points here. The first is obvious, , and it’s also just
as obvious that this will not be the correct value. We are building a box here
and w is the box’s width and so since it makes no sense to talk about a box
with zero width we will ignore this critical point. This does not mean
however that you should just get into the habit of ignoring zero when it
occurs. There are other types of problems where it will be a valid point that
we will need to consider.
The next critical point will come from determining where the numerator is
zero.

So, once we throw out , we’ve got a single critical point and we now
have to verify that this is in fact the value that will give the absolute
minimum cost.
By using the second derivative, we can work quickly and simply here. First,
we know that whatever the value of w that we get it will have to be positive
and we can see second derivative above that provided we will
have and so in the interval of possible optimal values the cost
function will always be concave up and so must give the absolute
minimum cost.
All we need to do now is to find the remaining dimensions.

Also, even though it was not asked for, the minimum cost
is, .

Antiderivative
A function is an antiderivative of a function
if for all x in the domain of f.
The process of finding an antiderivative is antidifferentiation.
 Example 1:
Find the velocity and position equations for a downward acceleration of 9.8
m/sec2 and an initial velocity of 1 m/sec downward.
Solution:

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Activities and Exercises

Work on exercises and complete the quiz. Refer to Week012-Assessments-

ApplicationsOfDerivatives3 file.

References
Angenent, Sigurd B. (2006). MATH 221 - 1st Semester Calculus Lecture
Notes, Version 2.0. Free Software Foundation
Strang, Gilbert. Calculus. Massachusetts: Wellesley, Wellesley-Cambridge
Press.
Finney, J. Demana, F. Wait, B. and Kennedy, D. (2005). Calculus. Prentice Hall.
Pearson Education, Inc.
Kelly, Greg. (2011). Greg Kelly Math. Hanford High School, 450 Hanford St.,
Richland, WA 99354. Retrieved from
https://sites.google.com/site/gkellymath/home/calculus-
powerpoints
Dawkins, Paul. (2007). Calculus I – Review. Retrieved from
http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/CalcI/CalcI.aspx