Robert Gordon

Haider
Math 1210
Antiderivatives
Three equations
a(t) = 3 f t/s2 (acceleration equation given.)
v (t) = 3t f t/s (I took the antiderivative of the acceleration equation to get the velocity equation.)
s(t) = (3/2)t2 f t (Took the antiderivative of the velocity equation to get the position equation.)
A)
20min(60) = 1200s (First I converted the 20 minutes travelled into seconds by multiplying by 60.)

75mph(5280)/3600 = 110f t/s (Next I converted the top speed into ft/s by multiplying by 5280 to get
ft, and dividing by 3600 to go from hours into seconds.)

110 = 3t (I plugged the max speed into the velocity piece of the velocity function to start solving
for how much time it takes to accelerate to max speed.)

110/3 = t (I divided by 3 to solve for the time it takes to accelerate to max speed.)

t = 36.66 (This is what I got for the time it takes to accelerate to max speed.)

2[(3/2)t2 ] = 3t2 (Now I set up an equation to find out how long the train travelled while
accelerating and decelerating. I multiplied it by two to account for acceleration and deceleration.
It ends up as what I got on the right.)

3(36.66)2 = 4033.33 (I plugged in 36.66 for t and solved to get 4033.33ft, the distance travelled
while accelerating and decelerating.)

4033.33/5280 = 0.76 (I divided it by 5280 to convert it from ft to miles.)

1200 2(36.66) = 1126.66 (Then I took the total time in seconds and subtracted 2t, to take out the
time for acceleration and deceleration.)

110(1126.66) = 123933.33 (I multiplied by the velocity during that time, the max speed, and got
the distance travelled in ft. I essentially used the equation distance=velocity x time. This is the
distance travelled at max speed.)

123933.33/5280 = 23.47 (I divided by 5280 to convert from ft to miles.)

23.46 + 0.76 = 24.2 (I added the miles travelled at max speed to the miles travelled during
acceleration and deceleration to get the answer.)
Answer is 24.2 miles.
B)
50(5280) = 264000 (I converted the 50 mile distance to ft by dividing by 5280.)

264000 4033.33 = 259966.66 [I took the distance travelled and subtracted the distance travelled
while accelerating and decelerating(taken from problem above). This gives me the distance
travelled at max speed.]

259966.66 = 110t (I used distance=velocity x time or d=vt and plugged in both the max
velocity(found in problem a), and the distance.)

259966.66/110 = t (I divided both sides by 110 to solve for the time spent at max velocity.

2363.33 = t (This is the time spent at max velocity in seconds.)

2363.33 + 2(36.66) = 2436.66 [I added the time spent at max speed with the time it took to
accelerate and decelerate(found in problem above). This gave the the total time spent travelling
in seconds.)

2436.66/60 = 40.6 (I converted the total time spent travelling in seconds to minutes by dividing by
60. This gave me the time spent travelling in minutes, or in other words, the answer.)
Answer is 40.6 minutes.
C)
18.5(60) = 1110 (Started by converting 18.5 minutes to seconds by multiplying by 60.)

1110 2(36.66) = 1036.66 (I subtracted 2t, or the total time spent accelerating and
decelerating(found in problem a), to get the time spent travelling at max speed.)

d = 110(1036.66) + 4033.33 [I used d=vt to find the distance travelled at top speed using the top
velocity(found in problem a) and added the distance travelled while accelerating and
decelerating(also found in problem a), to find the total distance travelled.]
d = 118066.66 (this is the total distance travelled in ft.)
118066.66/5280 = 22.4 (I converted the total distance travelled from ft to miles by dividing by
5280 to get the final answer.)
Answer is 22.4 miles.
Process Reflection
My process for solving this problem was quite simple after I figured out what I was doing.
By first finding out the three equations of acceleration, velocity, and position first, I was easily
able to use all three in various ways to find out the answer. After finding the equations, I
converted every given distance or time into units of feet or seconds to match my equations, and
then solved for the distance and time it takes to accelerate and decelerate. Afterwards it
became easy to subtract acceleration and deceleration from the total value to get the time or
distance travelled at max velocity by itself. Then all it took was simple math on adding distance
or time while keeping track of the units until I got the right answer. The hardest part was
watching all of the units as it sometimes got pretty crazy.
Real World Example
One real world example on how to use antiderives in real life is in calculating the
average rate of the consumption of cola over a certain time period. Specifically from January
1st, 1983 continuing on for 10 years. By using the equation s(t)=6e^[ln(2)t/5], we can use an
integral to take the antiderivative, while making sure it is defined on the interval of 3 to 13. This
gives us a consumption rate of 19.68 billion gallons a year.
Source:https://vimeo.com/82464662 around 30 minutes in.