Question

A paper airplane is thrown off a 64-foot bridge into the water below. It’s height, in feet, is represented by f(x)= -16(x^2 - 3x - 4), where x is the number of seconds since the airplane was thrown. The height of the airplane is 0 feet when it hits the water. C. What do the zeros mean in terms of the situation?D. Do both zeros have a real world meaning? E. How long does it take the airplane to hit the water?

Answer 1

According to the problem, the function f(x) represents the height of the airplane, and x is the time in seconds since the airplane was thrown.

C.

The graph shows the zeros x = -1 and x = 4, however, the positive zero is the only one that makes sense to the problem because time can't be negative. So, the zero x = 4 means that the paper airplane will reach the water level after 4 seconds.

D.

As we said, just the positive zero has meaning to this situation because, in real life, time is not negative.

Therefore, just one zero (x=4) has real-world meaning.

E.

According to the zero x = 4, the paper airplane will hit the water after 4 seconds.