[Math] Related Rates question: A man starts walking north at 4 ft/s from a point P. Five minutes later a woman starts

calculus

A man starts walking north at 4 ft/s from a point P. Five minutes later a woman starts walking south at 5 ft/s from a point 500 ft due east of P. At what rate are the people moving apart 15 minutes after the woman starts walking? (Round your answer to two decimal places.)enter image description here

Best Answer

The method is basically sound with one error. In your figure, you have a right triangle with leg lengths $500$ and $4800+4500$. The length of the hypotenuse of that triangle is $\sqrt{(4800+4500)^2 + 500^2}$, not $\sqrt{4800^2 + 4500^2 + 500^2}$.

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