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PROBLEM 57

My dog, Scooter, got a new leash for his birthday. This leash is made of a flexible rubber coil, much like that on the handset of your telephone, which stretches when Scooter walks away from me and shortens as he walks toward me. The result being that the leash goes directly from my hand to his collar in a straight line without dragging on the ground or becoming entangled in his (very active) feet.

Last night Scooter and I went for a walk. We were both walking at a constant rate of 6 feet per second, and he was 8 feet in front of me. As we came to a corner, he turned and continued to walk at the same rate; when I got the corner, I turned and we continued on our walk.

After Scooter has turned the corner, but before I have reached it, is the leash growing, shrinking, or staying the same size? If its length is changing, at what rate is it changing just when Scooter turns the corner and when does it reach its maximum/minimum length?

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