007A Sample Final 2, Problem 5 Detailed Solution

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The velocity    of the blood flow of a skier is modeled by

where    is the radius of the blood vessel,    is the distance of the blood flow from the center of the vessel and is a constant. Suppose the skier's blood vessel has radius    mm and that cold weather is causing the vessel to contract at a rate of    mm per minute. How fast is the velocity of the blood changing?


Background Information:  
The equation of the tangent line to    at the point    is
          where  


Solution:

Step 1:  
We use implicit differentiation to find the derivative of the given curve.
Using the product and chain rule, we get
       
We rearrange the terms and solve for  
Therefore,
       
and
       
Step 2:  
Therefore, the slope of the tangent line at the point    is
       
Hence, the equation of the tangent line to the curve at the point    is
       


Final Answer:  
       

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