If you’re like many Calculus students, you understand the idea of limits, but may be having trouble solving limit problems in your homework, especially when you initially find “0 divided by 0.” In this post, we’ll show you the techniques you must know in order to solve these types of problems. I. The idea of… [read more]

A student recently wrote to ask if we’d help solve a common related rates problem about water draining from a cylindrical tank. The problem was something like this: Cylinder Drains Water. A cylinder filled with water has a 3.0-foot radius and 10-foot height. It is drained such that the depth of the water is decreasing… [read more]

Are you having trouble solving Calculus limit problems, even though you understand the concept? In this post we explain three approaches you’ll use again and again, especially in problems where you initially get “0/0.” I. Factoring You’ll use this approach most often. For example, consider the problem $$\lim_{x \to 4}\dfrac{x^2 – 16}{x-4} = ?$$ If… [read more]

In our last post, we developed four steps to solve any related rates problem. We introduced three examples to illustrate the basic ideas, and solved two of them there. As promised, we’ll solve the third here. Water Leaving a Cone Example Here’s the problem statement, now with some additional details about the cone itself and… [read more]

Almost 90% of respondents find this blog post “very” or “extremely useful.” We hope you will too! If you’re working on a related rates problem and need help, please let us know on our Forum and we’ll do our best to assist. Are you having trouble with Related Rates problems in Calculus? Let’s break ’em… [read more]

I created Matheno for one simple reason: to help students do well in their college-level science and math courses. As a former Physics faculty member at UC Berkeley, I’ve worked with many beginning students from diverse backgrounds. Most work hard to do well, and many succeed greatly. But others, despite the same amounts of time… [read more]