Question

Acob was so frustrated with his laptop that he threw it out his window from a second story floor. The height, h, of the laptop at time "t" seconds can be given by the equation: h(t) = –16t² + 28t + 17. Approximately how long will it take for the laptop to hit the ground?

a) 1.5 seconds

b) 2.5 seconds

c) 3.5 seconds

d) 4.5 seconds

Answer 1

The laptop will take approximately 3.5 seconds to hit the ground.

Step-by-step explanation:

The height of the laptop at time t seconds is given by the equation: h(t) = -16t² + 28t + 17. To find approximately how long it will take for the laptop to hit the ground, we need to determine when the height is equal to 0. This can be done by setting h(t) = 0 and solving for t using the quadratic formula.

Using the quadratic formula, we get t ≈ 1.5 seconds and t ≈ 3.5 seconds. However, since the laptop is thrown out of a second-story window, we are only interested in the positive root, which is approximately 3.5 seconds. Therefore, the laptop will take approximately 3.5 seconds to hit the ground.