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PROBLEM 274 A famous (infamous?) problem in calculus texts involves a ladder sliding down a wall. Here is the problem with a couple of twists. Problem 1. A ladder of length 1 leans against a wall of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The tower is leaning at an angle q from the horizontal. See the picture on the left. At some time, the foot of a ladder starts to slide away from the wall at a constant velocity. At what velocity is the top of the ladder sliding down the wall t seconds later? Problem 2. A ladder of length 1 leans against a wall of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. The arc of the wall is described by a decreasing function f (x). At some point, the foot of the ladder starts to slide away from the wall at a constant velocity. What is the general equation that describes the velocity at which the top of the ladder is sliding down the wall t seconds later? You are visitor
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