I am currently facing a physics problem that I am not sure of how to solve, and also, when I tried to put my system of equations into WolframAlpha, it didn't understand that it was a system of equations, and it returned an answer to one of the equations in the system.
The text of the problem is the following:
According to the diagram, a vehicle wants to go from point A to point C. The vehicle's speed on the road (AB) is constant v = 51 km/h, on the field (BC) is constant u = 28 km/h.
At which point B should the vehicle go off the road in order for it to get from point A to point C in the shortest time possible? (Or phrased differently, what is the distance of AB?) AD = d = 4 km, h = 3.9 km.
My attempt at the solution:
Data:
v = 51 km/h
u = 28 km/h
d = 4 km
h = 3.9 km
System of Equations:
t(a,b,v,u) = a/v + b/u
b = Sqrt[h^2 + c^2]
d = a + c
x = u * cos[j]
y = u * sin[j]
x/c = y/h = u/b
h = 3.9
d = 4
v = 51
u = 28
As far as I can tell, our goal is to figure out what the minimum of function t is, but I'm not sure as to how to get it. I think I should use the similar triangles chb and xyu but again, I'm not sure about that.
I tried putting these equations into Wolfram Alpha, but it just returned the solution to b = Sqrt[h^2 + c^2] equation, and it also just returned that it's an equation of a circle, (since of course the equation of a circle is x^2+y^2=0, but this is of course Pythagorian Theorem.)
Could you please help me solve this little problem? Am I even on the right track to the solution? Also, how can I put this into WolframAlpha so that it understands properly?
Thank you for your time in advance. :)
This is a 1-DOF optimization problem. You have one variable you vary, the dimension c from 0 to d and you observe the total transit time t
t = a/v + b/u
Now it becomes a geometry problem, and not a physics problem as you need to express the distances a and b in terms of c and the other known quantities.
t = (d-c)/v + √(h^2+c^2)/u
If you plot this function of t in terms of c given v=51, u=28, d=4 and h=3.9 you will find that the minimum occurs somewhere near c≈3
You would have to use calculus to find the minimum exactly. Taking the derivative of time t vs distance c
t' = -1/v + c/(u*√(c^2+h^2))
and setting t'
equal to zero, c*v - u*√(c^2+h^2)=0
produces the optimal distance c after re-arranging the terms and squaring both sides to get to
c^2/u^2 = c^2/v^2 + h^2/v^2
with solution
c = h * u/√(v^2-u^2) = 2.561 km