A dog chases a squirrel at a speed of 12 m/s. The squirrel dashes up a tree trunk at a rate of 6 m/s. Find the rate of change of distance between the squirrel and the dog at an instant when the do is 12m from the tree trunk and the squirrel is 5m up the trunk.

Question

anonymous · Answer

ok. to set up this equation, use the pathagorean theorum.
a^2+b^2=c^2
that gives you just about everything you need. other than that, take the derivitive. the key is understanding what each part means. rate of change is your key.

anonymous · Answer

Take the derivative of pythagorean's theorum?

anonymous · Answer

basically yes.  taking the derivitive would be 2ada+2bdb=2cdc    given a=12, b=5, you can find c from the original equation  144+25=c^2,  c=13
da=12, db=6, so 2*12*12+2*5*6=2*13*dc
288+60=26dc
348=26dc
13.385=dc