man catching a bus

[CellCoree]

A man is running at speed c (much less than the speed of light) to catch a bus already at a stop. At t=0, when he is a distance b from the door to the bus, the bus starts moving with the positive acceleration a.
Use a coordinate system with x=0 at the door of the stopped bus


i have two questions :frown:

What is xman(t), the position of the man as a function of time? Answer symbolically in terms of the variables b, c , and t .

xman(t) = _____________


(picture of the man and the bus is also included)
because the man's speed is constant, i used the formula

x(t) = x(0) + vt

so....

xman(t) =0+ct

is that correct?

[jamesrc]

From the picture, it looks like the position of the man at time = 0 is x = -b. So the answer should be x_{\rm man}(t) = -b + ct

[CellCoree]

your right,thanks.

i have another question

what is Xbus(t) the position of the bus as a function of time?

using the formula x(t) = x(0) +v(0)t + (1/2)at^2

x(t) = b +v(0)t +(1/2)ct^2


hmm what would be v(0)t? and is my setup correct? and what should i do next?

[jamesrc]

That's the right formula, but think about what each variable means:

x(0) for the bus is 0, because the bus starts at x = 0.

v(0) for the bus is zero because it starts from rest

a for the bus is a (as stated in the problem)

so:

X_{\rm bus}(t) = \frac 1 2 at^2

[CellCoree]

Inserting the formulas you found for xman(t) and xbus(t)into the condition xman(t catch) = xbus(t catch), you obtain the following:

-b + ctcatch=1/2at^2catch

Intuitively, the man will not catch the bus unless he is running fast enough. In mathematical terms, there is a constraint on the man's speed c so that the equation above gives a solution for tcatch that is a real positive number.

Find cmin, the minimum value of for which the man will catch the bus

how do i find cmin?

[jamesrc]

This problem seemed familiar, so I checked back a few threads to here:

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=41303

Read that thread and let us know if you need more advice.

[CellCoree]

so your telling me to slove for cmin^2 -2ab =0 right?

so cmin = sqrt(2ab). is that the correct answer?