Related rates equation problem

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Homework Statement



A boy is standing 50 ft. from the end of a swimming pool when he sees a girl 25 ft. along the end. He can swim 3 ft/s and run 5 ft/s. If he runs x feet, set up an equation for time consumed.


Homework Equations



There is a visual aid: A rectangle with length labeled 50 ft and a dot B designating where the boy is, and with a width labeled 25 ft and a dot G designating where the girl is.


The Attempt at a Solution



I know I have to set up a triangle, with my y-axis being the length (where the girl is, making my dy/dt= 3 ft/s) and the x-axis being the width (dx/dt=5 ft/s) Past this, I really don't know. I tried this:

Since he is running x ft, the 50 ft must be losing x, and the 25 ft must be gaining x. So y/x=(25+x)/(50-x) However, I need t in there. If I integrate dy/dt, I will be left with a c that I'm not sure how to get rid of. So yeah, I'm really stumped on this one.

I know it's kinda hard to visualize, so any help at all would be appreciated.
 
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Bionerd said:

Homework Statement



A boy is standing 50 ft. from the end of a swimming pool when he sees a girl 25 ft. along the end. He can swim 3 ft/s and run 5 ft/s. If he runs x feet, set up an equation for time consumed.


Homework Equations



There is a visual aid: A rectangle with length labeled 50 ft and a dot B designating where the boy is, and with a width labeled 25 ft and a dot G designating where the girl is.


The Attempt at a Solution


I know I have to set up a triangle, with my y-axis being the length (where the girl is, making my dy/dt= 3 ft/s) and the x-axis being the width (dx/dt=5 ft/s) Past this, I really don't know. I tried this:

Since he is running x ft, the 50 ft must be losing x, and the 25 ft must be gaining x. So y/x=(25+x)/(50-x) However, I need t in there. If I integrate dy/dt, I will be left with a c that I'm not sure how to get rid of. So yeah, I'm really stumped on this one.

I know it's kinda hard to visualize, so any help at all would be appreciated.

You haven't given enough information! For example, if he is standing on the right of the swimming pool and the girl is also to the right of the swimming pool, I can see no reason for him swimming at all!
 
He is standing in the lower right corner, she in the upper left.
 
Bionerd said:
He is standing in the lower right corner, she in the upper left.

That completely contradicts what you originally said:
A boy is standing 50 ft. from the end of a swimming pool when he sees a girl 25 ft. along the end. He can swim 3 ft/s and run 5 ft/s. If he runs x feet, set up an equation for time consumed.
What you meant, I think is that the swimming pool is 50 feet long and 25 feet wide, the boy and girl are at opposite corners. That's quite different from saying "A boy is standing 50 ft. from the end of a swimming pool"!

He runs x feet along the length of the pool leaving 50-x to the end. That does NOT "add" anything to the 25 foot width. He swims along the hypotenuse of a right triangle having one leg 50-x and the other 25. The distance he swims is \sqrt{(50-x)^2+ 25^2}=\sqrt{3125- 100x+ x^2}. The time it takes to go a given distance is that distance divided by the speed.
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...

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