Ok, I'll try to explain better.
![[Image: trian.jpg]](http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/700/trian.jpg)
So, you were right about the triangle. The line, represented in the picture by the hypotenuse, is reeled in 1.5m per second. So the length should be L-1.5t where L is a constant and t is the time in seconds, right?
The left cathetus is the hight of the cliff, so 25m at all times. The bottom cathetus is how far the fish is from the cliff. This length depends on how long the line is, thus it can be described as the function f(t) (sorry for the typo in the picture).
According to the Pythagorean theorem f(t)=sqrt((L-1.5t)²-25²), right? Or am I completely wrong about this? My teacher didn't agree with this, but it didn't sound like she was very sure though..
I think I solved it, but thanks for the help!
~Psyberion
So, you were right about the triangle. The line, represented in the picture by the hypotenuse, is reeled in 1.5m per second. So the length should be L-1.5t where L is a constant and t is the time in seconds, right?
The left cathetus is the hight of the cliff, so 25m at all times. The bottom cathetus is how far the fish is from the cliff. This length depends on how long the line is, thus it can be described as the function f(t) (sorry for the typo in the picture).
According to the Pythagorean theorem f(t)=sqrt((L-1.5t)²-25²), right? Or am I completely wrong about this? My teacher didn't agree with this, but it didn't sound like she was very sure though..
I think I solved it, but thanks for the help!
~Psyberion