Single Variable Calculus, Chapter 3, 3.8, Section 3.8, Problem 34

At what rate was this species brain growing when the average length was 18cm?
Given:
$
\begin{array}{c}
B & = & 0.007 W^\frac{2}{3}\\
W & = & 0.12 L^{2.53}
\end{array}
$
where
$
\begin{array}{c}
B & = & \text{brain weight in grams}\\
W & = & \text{body weight in grams}\\
L & = & \text{body length in cm}
\end{array}
$


Required: $\displaystyle \frac{dB}{dt}$, when $L = 18$cm

Getting the equation of brain weigh in terms of its body lengthwe get
$\displaystyle B = 0.007 \left[ 0.12 L^{2.53}\right]^{\frac{2}{3}} \qquad \Longleftarrow \text{ Equation 1}$
Getting the derivative with respect to time

$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
\frac{dB}{dt} &= \frac{2}{3} (0.007) \left[ 0.12 L^{2.53}\right]^{\frac{-1}{3}} \left( (0.12) (2.53) L^{(2.53-1)} \right) \left(\frac{dL}{dt}\right)\\
\\
\frac{dB}{dt} &= 0.0028724 \left( \frac{dL}{dt} \right) \qquad \Longleftarrow \text{ Equation 2}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$


To get the value of $\displaystyle \frac{dL}{dt}$ we use the values given that the fish evolved from 15cm to 20cm for over 10 million years.
$\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt} = \frac{20-15}{10} = 0.5\frac{\text{cm}}{\text{million years}}$

Now, to get the unknown we use Equation 2
$\displaystyle \frac{dB}{dt} = 0.0028724 (18) 0.68667 (0.5)$
$\boxed{\displaystyle \frac{dB}{dt} = 0.0104513 \frac{\text{grams}}{\text{million years}}}$

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

In “Fahrenheit 451,” what does Faber mean by “Those who don’t build must burn. It’s as old as history and juvenile delinquents”?

Single Variable Calculus, Chapter 3, 3.6, Section 3.6, Problem 34

What was the effect of World War II on African Americans?