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Question

A man , 2 m tall, walks at the rate of 123 m/s towards a street light which is 513 m above the ground. At what rate is the tip of his shadow moving and at what rate is the length of the shadow changing when he is 313 m from the base of the light?

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Solution

Let AB be the street light post and CD be the height of man i.e., CD = 2 m.

Let BC = x m, CE = y ma and dxdt=53m/s
From ABE and DCE, we see that,
ABE ~ DCE
ABDC=BECE1632=x+yy166=x+yy16y=6x+6y10y=6xy=35x
On differentiating both sides w.r.t. t, we get
dydt=35.dxdt=35.(123)=35.(53)=1m/s
Let z = x + y
Now, differentiating both sides w.r.t.t, we get
dzdt=dxdt+dydt=(53+1)=83=223
Hence, the tip of shadow is moving at the rate of 223 m/s towards the light source and length of the shadow is decreasing at the rate of 1 m/s.


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