Question

A juggler tosses a ball into the air . The balls height, h and time t seconds can be represented by the equation h(t)= -16t^2+40t+4 . Suppose the juggler missed and ball hit the ground . Find the maximum height of the ball and time it took to reach the ground. Round all answers to the nearest hundredth .

Answer 1

PART A

The given equation is

$h(t) = - 16 {t}^{2} + 40t + 4$

In order to find the maximum height, we write the function in the vertex form.

We factor -16 out of the first two terms to get,

$h(t) = - 16 ({t}^{2} - \frac{5}{2} t) + 4$

We add and subtract

$- 16(- \frac{5}{4} )^{2}$

to get,

$h(t) = - 16 ({t}^{2} - \frac{5}{2} t) + - 16( - \frac{5}{4})^{2} - -16( - \frac{5}{4})^{2} + 4$

We again factor -16 out of the first two terms to get,

$h(t) = - 16 ({t}^{2} - \frac{5}{2} t + ( - \frac{5}{4})^{2} ) - -16( - \frac{5}{4})^{2} + 4$

This implies that,

$h(t) = - 16 ({t}^{2} - \frac{5}{2} t + ( - \frac{5}{4}) ^{2} ) + 16( \frac{25}{16}) + 4$

The quadratic trinomial above is a perfect square.

$h(t) = - 16 ( t- \frac{5}{4}) ^{2} +25+ 4$

This finally simplifies to,

$h(t) = - 16 ( t- \frac{5}{4}) ^{2} +29$

The vertex of this function is

$V( \frac{5}{4} ,29)$

The y-value of the vertex is the maximum value.

Therefore the maximum value is,

$29$

PART B

When the ball hits the ground,

$h(t) = 0$

This implies that,

$- 16 ( t- \frac{5}{4}) ^{2} +29 = 0$

We add -29 to both sides to get,

$- 16 ( t- \frac{5}{4}) ^{2} = - 29$

This implies that,

$( t- \frac{5}{4}) ^{2} = \frac{29}{16}$

$t- \frac{5}{4} = \pm \sqrt{ \frac{29}{16} }$

$t = \frac{5}{4} \pm \frac{ \sqrt{29} }{4}$

$t = \frac{ 5 + \sqrt{29} }{4} = 2.60$

or

$t = \frac{ 5 - \sqrt{29} }{4} = - 0.10$

Since time cannot be negative, we discard the negative value and pick,

$t = 2.60s$