The position of a particle P on a line l is given by s(t) = t^2 − 4t, where s(t) is in feet and t is in seconds. Find the velocity as a function of time.

Question

Can you walk me through step by step on how to figure this out?

Find the velocity as a function of time.

v(t) =

What is the velocity at time t = 0 and t = 8?

Answer 1

The instantaneous velocity is the derivative of position. So take the derivative of s(t) to get the velocity function.

To get it at t=0 and t=8, plug in 0 and 8 for t into the velocity function you obtained.