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The illumination provided by a car's headlight varies inversely as the square of the distance from the headlight. A car's headlight produces an illumination of 3.75 footcandles at a distance of 40 feet. What is the illumination when the distance is 50 feet?

Sagot :

The illumination should be represented by y, while the distance from the headlight should be represented by x, therefore the inverse relationship between both variables is shown as;

[tex]\begin{gathered} y=\frac{k}{x^2} \\ \text{When y=3.75, then x=40. Therefore;} \\ 3.75=\frac{k}{40^2} \\ 3.75=\frac{k}{1600} \\ 3.75\times1600=k \\ k=6000 \\ \text{Hence, when the distance (x) is 50 feet} \\ y=\frac{k}{x^2} \\ y=\frac{6000}{50^2} \\ y=\frac{6000}{2500} \\ y=2.4 \end{gathered}[/tex]

The illumination at a distance of 50 feet is therefore 2.4 footcandles