Recent content by hexag1

nothing?

I'm going through a calculus textbook in an attempt to learn it myself. So far so good, but I've been stuck on optimization problems. I understand the concept. The maxima and minima of a function can be found by looking at where its derivative = 0. I also see that a function that has no...

Right - so I could write the ellipse as a squashed circle. But how do I find Θ ??

I don't HAVE to do derivatives, but the problem is taken from the section on implicit differention, so I assumed that was the way to go about it. I have tried intersecting the line and the ellipse, but I can only find equations for the line where the slip and 'b' (of y=mx+b format) are...

Homework Statement So here's a question from my textbook 'Calculus: Concepts and Contexts' 2nd ed. by James Stewart. This is section 3.6 # 54 We have Cartesian coordinates set up with an ellipse at x^2 + 4y^2 = 5 To the right of the ellipse a lamppost (in 2D!) stands at x=3 with...