Recent content by ArmChairPhysicist

Ive been working through calculus this year and will be into next year, and as nearly every time I open my calculus book I have found something new and mysterious. This time it's something called parametric representation. It isn't clearly explained what this means or how you go about...

Thank you so much for your help and time.

Ok thank you

Now I simply solve for x?

Which gets me this.

Cancel out the denominator, then square both sides?

To this?

So from this

Then when I reduced the fractions in my equation 282-2x became 141-x unless I messed up somewhere

The 141 came from me taking the derivative of 21^2+(120-x)2 2 • 21 ^2-1 = 42 (120-x)^2 = 2(120-X)^1 correct?

This is my current equation, and is what I'm attempting to simplify. I know that my end goal is to isolate X so I can solve, but I need to eliminate those radicals, and I can't figure out how. Any ideas?

Currently I have this by cross multiplying out the denominators. X•sqrt(21^2 +(120-X)^2) + (141-X)•sqrt(7^2+X^2)=0

If not how should I go about simplifying what I have

Could I square the fractions to eliminate the radicals?

Then I simplify those, set them to zero and solve I believe?