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Inveritatem
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Homework Statement
A point moves along the curve y = x3 + x such that the vertical component of velocity is always 3. Find the tangential and normal components of acceleration at the point P(2,10).
Homework Equations
Tangential Acceleration - aT(t) = v(t) ⋅ a(t)/ magnitude of velocity vector
Normal Acceleration - aN(t) = magnitude of (v(t) × a(t)) / magnitude of (v(t))
The Attempt at a Solution
The fact that they gave the VERTICAL component of constant velocity is really throwing me off. In class we have done some similar procedure but the HORIZONTAL component of velocity being given instead.
So if I get f(t) as the parametic equation for x and g(t) for the parametric equation for y, I thought I would have to get x in terms of y (ƒ(t) in terms of g(t)), so I would have to get the inverse of this function. But this requires something called Cavadro's Method and results in weird values I don't understand.
So I thought maybe I would keep the x and y values in terms of f(t). However, that results in some very weird x component values for the velocity and acceleration vectors for the cross product such as -2/9*cuberoot(3/t^5) - 3, so I feel like this is a mistake.
Anyone have any insights into this problem I'm not seeing?