I was given the question:
The volume V of a cylinder is computed using the values 6m for the diameter and 9.8m for the height. Use the linear approximation to estimate the maximum error in V if each of these values has a possible error of at most 7%.
I am unsure how to begin this problem. All I can assume is to use the volume formula. Any ideas?
$$ V= \pi r^2 h $$
$$ dV= \frac {dV}{dr} dr + \frac {dV}{dh} dh$$ $$ = (2\pi rh) dr + (\pi r^2)dh$$
$$ \frac {dV}{V} = 2(dr/r)+ (dh/h) = 2(.07)+ (.07) = 0.21 $$
Thus the relative error in $V$ is $21$ percent.