Edexcel C3 2011 January — Question 4

Exam BoardEdexcel
ModuleC3 (Core Mathematics 3)
Year2011
SessionJanuary
TopicExponential Functions

4. Joan brings a cup of hot tea into a room and places the cup on a table. At time \(t\) minutes after Joan places the cup on the table, the temperature, \(\theta ^ { \circ } \mathrm { C }\), of the tea is modelled by the equation $$\theta = 20 + A \mathrm { e } ^ { - k t } ,$$ where \(A\) and \(k\) are positive constants. Given that the initial temperature of the tea was \(90 ^ { \circ } \mathrm { C }\),
  1. find the value of \(A\). The tea takes 5 minutes to decrease in temperature from \(90 ^ { \circ } \mathrm { C }\) to \(55 ^ { \circ } \mathrm { C }\).
  2. Show that \(k = \frac { 1 } { 5 } \ln 2\).
  3. Find the rate at which the temperature of the tea is decreasing at the instant when \(t = 10\). Give your answer, in \({ } ^ { \circ } \mathrm { C }\) per minute, to 3 decimal places.