GeoGebra
  • Home
  • News Feed
  • Resources
  • Profile
  • People
  • Groups
  • App Downloads
About GeoGebra
Contact us: office@geogebra.org
Terms of Service – Privacy – License
Language: English

© 2018 GeoGebra

GeoGebra

Falling Ladder !!!

Author:
Tim Brzezinski
Topic:
Calculus, Differential Calculus
Suppose a ladder that's 10 feet long is (somehow) resting up vertically against a wall. The bottom of the ladder is then kicked out so that the base of the ladder is moving away from the wall at a rate of 3 ft/sec. (Go ahead and kick the ladder). At what rate is the ladder's height, h, changing when the bottom of the ladder is 6 feet away from the wall? 9 feet away from the wall? Use implicit differentiation to determine the answers to these 2 questions, and then check the approximate values of your your results within the applet. In fact, at any time, you can adjust the values of x and .
GeoGebra Applet

1.

Why is the value of always negative (except at x = 0)? Explain.

2.

How far away does the base of the ladder need to be away from the wall in order for ? You can guess-and-check using the applet above. Yet be sure to use calculus to obtain an exact solution!

Related Topics

  • Differential Equation
  • Functions
  • Integral Calculus
  • Limits
  • Parametric Curves

Discover Resources

  • Algebraic Vectors
  • Efonct
  • Inleiding Pythagoras
  • test autumn
  • Rotation and Rolling Friction

Discover Topics

  • Quadrilaterals
  • Stochastic Process or Random Process
  • General Quadrilateral
  • Poisson Distribution
  • Isosceles Triangles

GeoGebra

  • About
  • Team
  • News Feed
  • Partners

Apps

  • Graphing Calculator
  • Geometry
  • 3D Graphing
  • App Downloads

Resources

  • Classroom Resources
  • Groups
  • Tutorials
  • Help
  • Language: English
  • Terms of Service Privacy License
  • Facebook Twitter YouTube