Monitor my heart rate

Calculus Level 2

Today, I jogged around the park from 7 a.m to 7:30 a.m. My Fitbit, the activity checking device, was monitoring my heartbeat during the entire run. At the beginning my heart rate was 125 bpm (beats per minute), while at the end it measured 165 bpm.

For the 30 minutes of jogging, which of the following bpm rates is not guaranteed to have been recorded by my Fitbit?

130 140 150 160 170

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3 solutions

Zach Abueg
Jun 26, 2017

Recall the Intermediate Value Theorem (IVT):

For a continuous function f f on the interval [ a , b ] [a, b] , there exists a value y 0 y_0 between f ( a ) f(a) and f ( b ) f(b) for every number x 0 x_0 between a a and b b such that f ( x 0 ) = y 0 f(x_0) = y_0 . Intuitively, what that translates to is for continuous variables like time, temperature, or distance, to get from point B B to point Y Y , you must have crossed points C , D , E . . . V , W , X C, D, E... V, W, X to get there. What this doesn't guarantee, on the other hand, is that you crossed A A and Z Z , since those are outside of the range ( B , Y ) (B, Y) that IVT guarantees you "crossed."

In this example, our domain is time, [7:00, 7:30], and our range is heart rate measured in beats per minute, ( 125 , 165 ) (125, 165) . Because our function, heart rate as a function of time, is continuous, IVT guarantees that Pi's heart rate must have been all heart rates between 125 125 and 165 165 bpm at some point on the time interval [7:00, 7:30]. What the IVT, then, doesn't guarantee is that her heart rate was any value 125 \leq 125 and 165 \geq 165 , so our answer is 170 \boxed{170} .

Oh man. You always post great quality solutions. The admins should really reward you for your efforts.

I can't thank you enough, Zach!

Pi Han Goh - 3 years, 11 months ago

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Aw thank you Pi! I really, really appreciate that :') I'm glad you like them! And thank you for your wonderful questions!

Zach Abueg - 3 years, 11 months ago

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The pleasure is mine

Pi Han Goh - 3 years, 11 months ago

We know that 130, 140, 150, and 160 have been shown by the Fitbit as the heartbeat increased from 125 to 165. We do not know if the heartbeat has increased to at least 170 during the run as the information we get is only at the start and the end of the run. Thus, 170 is the answer.

Hana Wehbi
Jun 25, 2017

This is not a solution but an idea came to my mind, you said at the beginning the fibit gave you a record of 125 and at the end 165 so 170 is not possible choice, hopefully right.

You're right, this is not a proper solution because you didn't explain why 170 is the right answer.

Pi Han Goh - 3 years, 11 months ago

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