Question

A watermelon is dropped from the tenth story of a building. Solve the equation −16t2+144=0 for t to find the number of seconds it takes the watermelon to reach the ground.

Answer 1

Water melon takes 3 seconds to reach the ground from the tenth story of a building.

SOLUTION:

Given, a watermelon is dropped from the tenth story of a building.

We have to solve the equation −16
`t^2` + 144 = 0 for t to find the number of seconds it takes the watermelon to reach the ground.

Now consider the given equation,
`-16 t^(2)+144=0`

`\begin{array}{l}{144=16 t^(2)} \\\\ {t^(2)=(144)/(16)} \\\\ {t^(2)=(12^(2))/(4^(2))} \\\\ {t^(2)=\left((12)/(4)\right)^(2)} \\\\ {t=(12)/(4)=3}\end{array}`

Hence, water melon takes 3 seconds to reach the ground from the tenth story of a building.