Isosceles Triangle Related Rate #3 (p.154 #17 Edwards, Hostetler, Larson)
Use the sketch to help develop your understanding of what is happening, how things are related.
1) What kind of triangle are we dealing with here?
2) What does the slide, α, control?
3) Show how the area of the triangle can be calculated as a function of α.
4) What does the derivative of the function mean in this context?
5) If we let α represent the measure of the angle included between the two sides of the isosceles triangle, and we let c represent the length of the two equal sides, how fast is the area of the triangle changing when the α= π/3. Justify both analytically and graphically (interpreting what the graph shows).