Problem

The height y (in feet) of a ball thrown by a child is
y=112x2+2x+5
where x is the horizontal distance in feet from the point at which the ball is thrown.
(a) How high is the ball when it leaves the child's hand? (Hint: Find y when x=0.) feet
(b) What is the maximum height of the ball?
feet
(c) How far from the child does the ball strike the ground? feet

Answer

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Answer

Since x represents the horizontal distance from the point at which the ball is thrown, we discard the negative solution. Therefore, the ball strikes the ground 20 feet from the child.

Steps

Step 1 :The height of the ball when it leaves the child's hand is given by the value of y when x=0. Substituting x=0 into the equation gives y=11202+20+5.

Step 2 :Simplifying the above expression gives y=5.

Step 3 :The maximum height of the ball can be found by finding the vertex of the parabola represented by the equation. The x-coordinate of the vertex is given by b2a, where a and b are the coefficients of x2 and x respectively. In this case, a=112 and b=2, so the x-coordinate of the vertex is 22112.

Step 4 :Simplifying the above expression gives x=12.

Step 5 :Substituting x=12 into the equation gives y=112122+212+5.

Step 6 :Simplifying the above expression gives y=17.

Step 7 :The ball strikes the ground when y=0. Setting y=0 in the equation gives 0=112x2+2x+5.

Step 8 :Solving the above quadratic equation for x gives x=5 and x=20.

Step 9 :Since x represents the horizontal distance from the point at which the ball is thrown, we discard the negative solution. Therefore, the ball strikes the ground 20 feet from the child.

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