Calculus: Early Transcendentals 8th Edition

Published by Cengage Learning
ISBN 10: 1285741552
ISBN 13: 978-1-28574-155-0

Chapter 4 - Section 4.2 - The Mean Value Theorem - 4.2 Exercises - Page 292: 36

Answer

There is a time between 2:00 and 2:10 when the acceleration is exactly $120~mi/h^2$

Work Step by Step

Let $t_1 = 0~~$ at 2:00 pm Let $t_2 = \frac{1}{6}~~$ at 2:10 pm Note that 10 minutes is equal to $\frac{1}{6}~hours$ Let $v(t)$ be the car's velocity. We can assume that $v(t)$ is continuous on the time interval $[t_1, t_2]$, and differentiable on the time interval $(t_1, t_2)$ According to the Mean Value Theorem, there is a number $c$ in the interval $(t_1,t_2)$ such that $v'(c) = \frac{v(t_2)-v(t_1)}{t_2-t_1}$ Then: $v'(c) = \frac{v(t_2)-v(t_1)}{t_2-t_1}$ $v'(c) = \frac{50~mi/h-30~mi/h}{\frac{1}{6}-0}$ $v'(c) = \frac{20~mi/h}{\frac{1}{6}~h}$ $v'(c) = 120~mi/h^2$ Since $v'(t)$ is the car's acceleration, there is a time between 2:00 and 2:10 when the acceleration is exactly $120~mi/h^2$
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