EXAMPLE 1: Biology

In a liquid culture the amount of bacteria doubles every 5 minutes, if the amount of
bacteria present initially is 2,000, how long will it take before there will be 100,000?
The amount of bacteria increases exponentially.
SOLUTION:

a. 𝑦 = 𝑦(0) 𝑒 𝑘𝑡
= 2,000𝑒 𝑘𝑡

When t = 5, y = 2,000 x 2 = 4,000.

b. 4,000 = 2,000𝑒 𝑘(5)

4,000
= 𝑒 5𝑘
2,000
𝑒 5𝑘 = 2
5𝑘 = 𝑙𝑛2
𝑙𝑛2
𝑘=
5

k=0.13863
EXAMPLE 2: Chemistry
Assume that a radioactive isotope has a half-life of 1,500 years. If you start with an
initial mass of 100g of isotope, how much isotope will be left after 20 years?

SOLUTION:

a. 𝑦 = 𝑦(0) 𝑒 𝑘𝑡
𝑦 = 100𝑒 𝑘𝑡

1
b. 50 = 100𝑒 𝑘(1,500) → (100) = 50
2
1,500𝑘
𝑒 = 0.5
1,500𝑘 = 𝑙𝑛0.5
𝑙𝑛0.5
𝑘=
1,500
𝑘 = −0.000462

c. 𝑦 = 100𝑒 𝑘𝑡
= 100𝑒 −0.000462(20)
= 100𝑒^ −0.00924
= 99.08 or 99
EXAMPLE 3: Physics
Pina is driving toward an intersection at a rate of 30km/h while along the perpendicular
road through the intersection Colada drives away from the intersection at a rate of
50km/h. When Pina was already 4km from the intersection, Colada was already 3km
from it. At this exact instant, how fast is the distance between the 2 changing? Are they
getting closer or getting farther from each other at this instant?
SOLUTION:

Colada

Pina

Let p be Pina’s distance from the intersection and f be Colada’s distance from the
intersection. Let s be the distance between the 2 drives. Then, since Colada is driving
𝑑𝑓
away from the intersection, f increases with time, and so = +50. Meanwhile, since
𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑝
Pina is moving toward the intersection, p is decreasing, so that = −30 . What we
𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑠
asked is 𝑑𝑡 when p = 4 and f = 3.

From our diagram and the Pythagorean Theorem, we can deduce that
𝑠 2 = 𝑝2 + 𝑓 2
Thus, applying implicit differentiation with respect to time t, we obtain
𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑝 𝑑𝑓
2𝑠 = 2𝑝 + 2𝑓
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
At the required instant, we thus have
𝑑𝑠
𝑠 = (4)(−30) + (3)(50) = 30
𝑑𝑡
Also, at the require instant,

𝑠 = √(4)2 + (3)2 = 5
 𝑑𝑠 30
Thus we finally have = = 6. That is the distance between Pina and Colada is
𝑑𝑡 5
𝑑𝑠
increasing (𝑑𝑡 > 0) at the rate of 6km/h. Yes, since the distance between them is
increasing, the two are getting farther away from each other at this instant

Example 4: Business

A company can produce a maximum of 1500 widgets in a year. If they sell x widgets
during the year then their profit, in dollars, is given by
1
𝑝(𝑥) = 30,000,000 − 360,000𝑥 + 750𝑥 2 − 𝑥 3
3

How many widgets should they try to sell in order to maximize their profit?

SOLUTION:
Determine the absolute maximum of the profit function and the value of x that will give
the absolute maximum.

a. Derivative of the profit function and the critical point(s)

𝑃′ (𝑥) = −360,000 + 1500𝑥 − 𝑥 2 = −𝑥(𝑥 − 1200)(𝑥 − 300) = 0 → 𝑥 = 300, 𝑥 = 200

b. We only want critical points that are interval [0,15000]

c. Evaluate the profit function at the critical points from second step and at the end
points of the given interval.
𝑃(0) = 30,000,000
𝑃(1200) = 102,000,000

They will need to sell 1,200 widgets to maximize their profits

Example 5: Medicine/Healthcare

The amount of medicine in a milliliter of a patient’s blood is given by the

equation: M(t) = 2t ¼ t2 , where M is the amount of medicine in mg, and t is
the number of hours passed since administration. Determine the rate of
change in medicine 5 hours after the administration.

Solution:
M(t) = 2t – ¼ t2
Rate of change = M’(t) = 2 -2 (¼ )t
=2–½t
at t = 5
M’(5) = 2 – ½ (5)
5
=2– = 2 – 2.5 = -0.5 mg/hr
2