Related Rates: A Boat Approaching a Dock

speed at which rope is being pulled = 1 m/s

(solid line)

distance of boat from dock = 2.000 m

speed of boat approaching dock = 1.118 m/s

(dashed line)

position of the boat

A boat is being pulled into a dock by a rope attached 1 meter above the plane of the bow. At what speed is the boat approaching the dock at given distances?

Drag the slider to adjust the distance.

Details

Based on a problem in: J. Stewart, Calculus: Early Transcendentals, 4th ed., Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1999.

External Links

Calculus (Wolfram MathWorld)

Permanent Citation

Jamie Ding