Final answer:
The minimum height of the cables above the roadway on a suspension bridge can be determined by finding the vertex of a quadratic equation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The height of the cables on a suspension bridge can be modeled by the equation h = 0.0072s²− 0.72s + 40, where h is the height in feet of the cable above the roadway s feet from the start of the bridge. To find the minimum height of the cables above the roadway, we need to determine the vertex of the quadratic equation. The formula to find the x-coordinate of the vertex is given by x = -b/2a. In this case, a = 0.0072 and b = -0.72. Plugging in these values, we get x = -(-0.72)/(2*0.0072) = 50. So, the minimum height of the cables above the roadway is 50 feet.