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Related Rates of Change (DP IB Maths: AI HL)
Revision Note
Related Rates of Change
What is meant by rates of change?
- A rate of change is a measure of how a quantity is changing with respect to another quantity
- Mathematically rates of change are derivatives
- could be the rate at which the volume of a sphere changes relative to how its radius is changing
- Context is important when interpreting positive and negative rates of change
- A positive rate of change would indicate an increase
- e.g. the change in volume of water as a bathtub fills
- A negative rate of change would indicate a decrease
- e.g. the change in volume of water in a leaking bucket
- A positive rate of change would indicate an increase
What is meant by related rates of change?
- Related rates of change are connected by a linking variable or parameter
- this is usually time, represented by
- seconds is the standard unit for time but this will depend on context
- e.g. Water running into a large bowl
- both the height and volume of water in the bowl change with time
- time is the linking parameter
How do I solve problems involving related rates of change?
- Use of chain rule
- Chain rule is given in the formula booklet in the format above
- Different letters may be used relative to the context
- e.g. for volume, for surface area, for height, for radius
- Different letters may be used relative to the context
- Problems often involve one quantity being constant
- so another quantity can be expressed in terms of a single variable
- this makes finding a derivative a lot easier
- For time problems at least, it is more convenient to use
and if it is more convenient to find thanthen use chain rule in the form
- Neither of these alternative versions of chain rule are in the formula booklet
STEP 1
Write down the rate of change given and the rate of change required
(If unsure of the rates of change involved, use the units given as a clue
e.g. (metres per second) would be the rate of change of length, per time,)
STEP 2
Use chain rule to form an equation connecting these rates of change with a third rate
The third rate of change will come from a related quantity such as volume, surface area, perimeter
The third rate of change will come from a related quantity such as volume, surface area, perimeter
STEP 3
Write down the formula for the related quantity (volume, etc) accounting for any fixed quantities
Find the third rate of change of the related quantity (derivative) using differentiation
STEP 4
Substitute the derivative and known rate of change into the equation and solve it
Examiner Tip
- If you struggle to determine which rate to use in an exam then you can look at the units to help
- e.g. A rate of 5 cm3 per second implies volume per time so the rate would be
Worked example
A cuboid has a square cross-sectional area of side length cm and a fixed height of 5 cm.
The volume of the cuboid is increasing at a rate of 20 cm3 s-1.
Find the rate at which the side length is increasing at the point when its side length is 3 cm.
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