Question

You are a lifeguard and spot a drowning child 60 meters along the shore and 40 meters from the shore to the child. You run along the shore and for a while and then jump into the water and swim from there directly to child. You can run at a rate of 4 meters per second and swim at a rate of 1.1 meters per second. How far along the shore should you run before jumping into the water in order to save the child? Round your answer to three decimal places.

Answer 1

Answer:

The lifeguard should run across the shore a distance of 48.074 m before jumpng into the water in order to minimize the time to reach the child.

Step-by-step explanation:

This is a problem of optimization.

We have to minimize the time it takes for the lifeguard to reach the child.

The time can be calculated by dividing the distance by the speed for each section.

The distance in the shore and in the water depends on when the lifeguard gets in the water. We use the variable x to model this, as seen in the picture attached.

Then, the distance in the shore is d_b=x and the distance swimming can be calculated using the Pithagorean theorem:

$d_s^2=(60-x)^2+40^2=60^2-120x+x^2+40^2=x^2-120x+5200\\\\d_s=\sqrt{x^2-120x+5200}$

Then, the time (speed divided by distance) is:

$t=d_b/v_b+d_s/v_s\\\\t=x/4+\sqrt{x^2-120x+5200}/1.1$

To optimize this function we have to derive and equal to zero:

$\dfrac{dt}{dx}=\dfrac{1}{4}+\dfrac{1}{1.1}(\dfrac{1}{2})\dfrac{2x-120}{\sqrt{x^2-120x+5200}} \\\\\\\dfrac{dt}{dx}=\dfrac{1}{4} +\dfrac{1}{1.1} \dfrac{x-60}{\sqrt{x^2-120x+5200}} =0\\\\\\ \dfrac{x-60}{\sqrt{x^2-120x+5200}} =\dfrac{1.1}{4}=\dfrac{2}{7}\\\\\\ x-60=\dfrac{2}{7}\sqrt{x^2-120x+5200}\\\\\\(x-60)^2=\dfrac{2^2}{7^2}(x^2-120x+5200)\\\\\\(x-60)^2=\dfrac{4}{49}[(x-60)^2+40^2]\\\\\\(1-4/49)(x-60)^2=4*40^2/49=6400/49\\\\(45/49)(x-60)^2=6400/49\\\\45(x-60)^2=6400$

$x$

As $d_b=x$, the lifeguard should run across the shore a distance of 48.074 m before jumpng into the water in order to minimize the time to reach the child.