For the amusement of the guests, some hotels have elevators on the outside of the building. One such hotel is 300 feet high. You are standing by a window 100 feet above the ground and 150 feet away from the hotel, and the elevator descends at a constant speed of 30 ft/sec, starting at time t = 0, where t is time in seconds. Let θ be the angle between the line of your horizon and your line of sight to the elevator. (See Figure 4.101.) (a) Find a formula for ℎ ( t ), the elevator’s height above the ground as it descends from the top of the hotel. (b) Using your answer to part (a), express θ as a function of time t and find the rate of change of θ with respect to t . (c) The rate of change of θ is a measure of how fast the elevator appears to you to be moving. At what height is the elevator when it appears to be moving fastest? Figure 4.101
For the amusement of the guests, some hotels have elevators on the outside of the building. One such hotel is 300 feet high. You are standing by a window 100 feet above the ground and 150 feet away from the hotel, and the elevator descends at a constant speed of 30 ft/sec, starting at time t = 0, where t is time in seconds. Let θ be the angle between the line of your horizon and your line of sight to the elevator. (See Figure 4.101.) (a) Find a formula for ℎ ( t ), the elevator’s height above the ground as it descends from the top of the hotel. (b) Using your answer to part (a), express θ as a function of time t and find the rate of change of θ with respect to t . (c) The rate of change of θ is a measure of how fast the elevator appears to you to be moving. At what height is the elevator when it appears to be moving fastest? Figure 4.101
For the amusement of the guests, some hotels have elevators on the outside of the building. One such hotel is 300 feet high. You are standing by a window 100 feet above the ground and 150 feet away from the hotel, and the elevator descends at a constant speed of 30 ft/sec, starting at time t = 0, where t is time in seconds. Let θ be the angle between the line of your horizon and your line of sight to the elevator. (See Figure 4.101.)
(a) Find a formula for ℎ(t), the elevator’s height above the ground as it descends from the top of the hotel.
(b) Using your answer to part (a), express θ as a function of time t and find the rate of change of θ with respect to t.
(c) The rate of change of θ is a measure of how fast the elevator appears to you to be moving. At what height is the elevator when it appears to be moving fastest?
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