Rates pt 2

course Mth 163

I don't know why this did not save on my disk. I remember doing them....... My access code...... I archived your e-mail when I was trying to save it and then could not figure out the Blackboard system to get it back. Had to go

to campus today to get someone to show me how. I have it now and everything should come through OK.

Trey

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Question: `q011. During a race, a runner passes the 100-meter mark moving at 10 meters / second, and the 200-meter mark moving at 9 meters / second. What is

your best estimate of how long it takes the runner to cover the 100 meter distance?

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Your solution:

100m/((10m/s + 9m/s) / 2) =about 10.5 sec

3 OK OK

confidence rating:

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Given Solution:

At 10 meters/sec, the runner would require 10 seconds to travel 100 meters. However the runner seems to be slowing, and will therefore require more than 10

seconds to travel the 100 meters. We don't know what the runner's average speed is, we only know that it goes from 10 m/s to 9 m/s. The simplest estimate we

could make would be that the average speed is the average of 10 m/s and 9 m/s, or (10 m/s + 9 m/s ) / 2 = 9.5 m/s. Taking this approximation as the average

rate, the time required to travel 100 meters will be (100 meters) / (9.5 m/s) = 10.5 sec, approx.. Note that simply averaging the 10 m/s and the 9 m/s might

not be the best way to approximate the average rate--for example we if we knew enough about the situation we might expect that this runner would maintain the

10 m/s for most of the remaining 100 meters, and simply tire during the last few seconds. However we were not given this information, and we don't add

extraneous assumptions without good cause. So the approximation we used here is pretty close to the best we can do with the given information.

You need to make note of anything in the given solution that you didn't understand when you solved the problem. If new ideas have been introduced in the

solution, you need to note them. If you notice an error in your own thinking then you need to note that. In your own words, explain anything you didn't

already understand and save your response as Notes.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique Rating:

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Question: `q012. We just averaged two quantities, adding them and dividing by 2, to find an average rate. We didn't do that before. Why we do it now?

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Your solution:

We needed an average because we were not using fixed numbers, our problem was under change and we were working between two set points. The next 100 m would

have been a whole new problem.

3 OK OK

confidence rating:

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Given Solution:

In previous examples the quantities weren't rates. We were given the amount of change of some accumulating quantity, and the change in time or in some other

quantity on which the first was dependent (e.g., dollars and months, miles and gallons). Here we are given 2 rates, 10 m/s and 9 m/s, in a situation where we

need an average rate in order to answer a question. Within this context, averaging the 2 rates was an appropriate tactic.

You need to make note of anything in the given solution that you didn't understand when you solved the problem. If new ideas have been introduced in the

solution, you need to note them. If you notice an error in your own thinking then you need to note that. In your own words, explain anything you didn't

already understand and save your response as Notes.

STUDENT QUESTION:

I thought the change of an accumulating quantity was the rate?

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE:

Quick response: The rate is not just the change in the accumulating quantity; if we're talking about a 'time rate' it's the change in the accumulating

quantity divided by the time interval (or in calculus the limiting value of this ratio as the time interval approaches zero).

More detailed response: If quantity A changes with respect to quantity B, then the average rate of change of A with respect to B (i.e., change in A / change

in B) is 'the rate'. If the B quantity is clock time, then 'the rate' tells you 'how fast' the A quantity accumulates. However the rate is not just the

change in the quantity A (i.e., the change in the accumulating quantity), but change in A / change in B.

For students having had at least a semester of calculus at some level: Of course the above generalizes into the definition of the derivative. y ' (x) is the

instantaneous rate at which the y quantity changes with respect to x. y ' (x) is the rate at which y accumulates with respect to x.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique Rating:

&#Your work looks very good. Let me know if you have any questions. &#