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A ball is thrown up in the air, and its height as a function of time can be written as h(t) = -16t2 + 40t + 8.At what time is the ball at it's maximum height? Round to the nearest hundredth if needed.

User Matt Dawdy
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1 Answer

15 votes
15 votes

hello

to solve this question, we simply need to solve for t

at maximum height,


\begin{gathered} 0=-16t^2+40t+8 \\ 16t^2-40t-8=0 \\ \text{solve for t} \\ a=16,b=-40,c=-8 \\ t=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt[]{b^2-4ac}}{2a} \\ t=\frac{-(-40)\pm\sqrt[]{(-40)^2-4*16*-8}}{2*16} \\ t=\frac{40\pm\sqrt[]{1600+512}}{32} \\ t=\frac{40\pm\sqrt[]{2112}}{32} \\ t=(40\pm45.96)/(32) \\ t=(40+45.96)/(32)=2.7s \\ or \\ t=(40-45.96)/(32)=-0.186s \end{gathered}

since we can't have a negative value for time, the time to reach maxium heigh is equal to 2.7 seconds

User RichC
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