A 17 foot ladder is leaning against a wall. The bottom of the ladder is moving out away from the wall at 0.6 feet per second. The top of the ladder then begins sliding down the wall. How fast is the top of the ladder going when the bottom is 8 feet away from the wall?

Answer 1

x^2 + y^2 = 17
solve for y when x=8

2x dx/dt + 2y dy/dt = 0
Now just plug in the given values and solve for dy/dt