Q.If the sides of a square are decreasing at the rate of cm/s, the rate of decrease of its perimeter is: (A) cm/s (B) cm/s (C) cm/s (D) cm/s
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →The perimeter of a square is directly proportional to its side length. If the side decreases at cm/s, the perimeter decreases at times that rate, which is cm/s. The correct option is (B).
This problem asks us to find the rate at which the perimeter of a square is decreasing, given the rate at which its sides are decreasing. This is a classic "related rates" problem in calculus. The core idea is to establish a relationship between the quantities involved (side length and perimeter), and then differentiate that relationship with respect to time to find how their rates of change are related.
When we talk about a "rate of change," we are essentially talking about a derivative with respect to time. If a quantity is decreasing, its rate of change will be negative.
Here's how we approach it:
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Identify the variables and given rates.
Let be the side length of the square at any given time .
Let be the perimeter of the square at any given time .
We are given that the sides of the square are decreasing at the rate of cm/s. In calculus terms, this means the derivative of the side length with respect to time, , is cm/s. The negative sign indicates a decrease.
Our goal is to find the rate of decrease of the perimeter, which means we need to find .
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Establish a relationship between the variables.
The formula for the perimeter of a square with side length is:
- Differentiate the relationship with respect to time. To find how the rates of change are related, we differentiate both sides of the equation with respect to time . We use the chain rule here.
Since $4$ is a constant, we can pull it out of the differentiation:
This equation tells us that the rate of change of the perimeter is $4$ times the rate of change of the side. This makes intuitive sense: if each of the four sides shrinks by a certain amount, the total perimeter shrinks by four times that amount.
4. Substitute the given rate and calculate. …
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