- #1
physstudent1
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Homework Statement
A rocket is 1/2 miles in the air going 40mi/h a bystander is standing 1 mile away from where the rocket took off straight up. What is the rate of change of the angle that the bystander makes with the rocket.
Homework Equations
The Attempt at a Solution
I set up a triangle and got tan(theta)=y. Then I took the derivative and got dtheta/dt * sec^2(theta) = dy/dt. from here I'm kinda lost it seems like i won't be able to do it now because I have to do this without a calculator so how would I calculate the theta at the time where y=1/2 its not a common angle...?