Rate of change of distance from origin?

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on calculating the rate of change of a particle's distance from the origin as it moves along the parabola defined by the equation y = 4x². The particle's x-coordinate increases at a constant rate of 5 units/minute. To find how fast the distance from the origin is changing at the point (1, 4), participants suggest using implicit differentiation on the distance formula s² = x² + y², substituting y with 4x², and differentiating with respect to time t to find ds/dt.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of implicit differentiation
  • Familiarity with the distance formula in Cartesian coordinates
  • Knowledge of parametric equations and their derivatives
  • Basic calculus concepts, specifically derivatives with respect to time
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  • Learn how to derive parametric equations
  • Explore applications of the distance formula in physics
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Homework Statement



A particle moves along the parabola y = 4x^{2} such that it's x coordinate increases at a steady rate of 5 units/minute.
How fast is the particle's distance from the origin changing when it is at the point (1,4)?

Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution



I honestly have no idea how to start this problem. A couple of ideas that pop up in my head are to take the derivatives \frac {dx}{dt} and \frac {dy}{dt} and use them to take the derivative of the distance formula from the origin, but there is no t...

I have no idea. Someone help get me started?
 
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Go with that thought. You have two pieces of information:
the distance of a point (x,y) from the origin is given by s^2 = x^2 + y^2 and the position of a point (x,y) on the parabola is (x, x^2).

You will be interested in ds/dt. Differentiate the distance equation implicitly with respect to t after making the appropriate substitutions.

If you haven't had implicit differentiation yet, no matter. Make the appropriate substitutions into the distance equation and you will have the distance as a function of x only, which you can then solve for s and differentiate with respect to t.
 

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