We are standing on the top of a 1680 ft tall building and throw a small object upwards. At every second, we measure the distance of the object from the ground. Exactly seconds after we threw the object, it’s height, (measured in feet) is ℎ= -16^2 + 256 + 1680

a.) Find ℎ when = 3.

b.) How much does the object travel during the two seconds between 5 seconds and 7 seconds?

c.) How long does it take for the object to reach a height of 2640 ft?

d.) How long does it take for the object to hit the ground?

a) The height of the small object 3 seconds after being launched is 2304 feet.

b) The small object ascends 128 feet between 5 seconds and 7 seconds.

c) The object will take 6 and 10 seconds after launch to reach a height of 2640 feet.

d) The object will take 21 seconds to hit the ground.

Step-by-step explanation:

The correct formula for the height of the small object is:

(1)

Where:

- Height above the ground, measured in feet.

- Time, measured in seconds.

a) The height of the small object at given time is found by evaluating the function:

The height of the small object 3 seconds after being launched is 2304 feet.

b) First, we evaluate the function at and :

We notice that the small object ascends in the given interval.

The small object ascends 128 feet between 5 seconds and 7 seconds.

c) If we know that , then (1) is reduced into this second-order polynomial:

(2)

All roots of the resulting equation come from the Quadratic Formula:

and

The object will take 6 and 10 seconds after launch to reach a height of 2640 feet.

d) If we know that , then (1) is reduced into this second-order polynomial:

(3)

All roots of the resulting equation come from the Quadratic Formula:

and

Just the first root offers a solution that is physically reasonable.

The object will take 21 seconds to hit the ground.

part a

answer: a reasonable domain is where n is a real number. so n can be between 0 and 10. both endpoints are included.

work shown:

n is the number of days after the experiment starts. the smallest n can be is n = 0 which means that 0 days have gone by, and we're at the start. to find out how large n should be, then replace f(n) with 16.13 and solve for n. use logarithms to isolate the exponent.

f(n) = 12*(1.03)^n

16.13 = 12*(1.03)^n

16.13/12 = (1.03)^n

1.34416666666667 = (1.03)^n

(1.03)^n = 1.34416666666667

log[ (1.03)^n ] = log[ 1.34416666666667 ]

n*log[ 1.03 ] = log[ 1.34416666666667 ]

n = log[ 1.34416666666667 ]/log[ 1.03 ]

n = 10.0062999823929

this rounds to n = 10 which is fairly close but not 100% perfect. so this is the largest n can be.

note: if you plug n = 10 into f(n), you'll get roughly 16.127 which rounds to 16.13 (this comes up again in part c)

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part b

answer: the y intercept is 12. it represents the starting height of the plant in cm.

work shown:

plug n = 0 into the f(n) function. simplify

f(n) = 12*(1.03)^n

f(0) = 12*(1.03)^0

f(0) = 12*(1)

f(0) = 12

on day n = 0, aka the starting point, the height f(n) is 12 cm

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part c

answer: the average rate of change is approximately 0.43061036458991 (round however you need to). this represents the average growth rate from day n = 3 to day n = 10. so the plant grew roughly 0.43 cm per day during this timespan, assuming you round to 2 decimal places.

work shown:

compute f(3)

f(n) = 12*(1.03)^n

f(3) = 12*(1.03)^3

f(3) = 13.112724 < we'll use this later

compute f(10)

f(n) = 12*(1.03)^n

f(10) = 12*(1.03)^10

f(10) = 16.1269965521294 < we'll use this later

now use the formula below with a = 3 and b = 10

aroc = average rate of change

aroc = [ f(b) - f(a) ]/[ b - a ]

aroc = [ f(10) - f(3) ]/[ 10 - 3 ]

aroc = (16.1269965521294 - 13.112724)/(10 - 3)

aroc = 3.0142725521294/7

aroc = 0.43061036458991

round this however you need to

note: the plant grew approximately 3.01 cm over 7 days, so roughly 0.43 cm per day is the average growth rate (if you were to round to 2 decimal places).