Question

How could Marc mathematically try to prove that he hit the ball near the top of the tower?While on the golf course last weekend Marc hit into the rough, landing the ball behind a tall tree. To get out of the scenario, his best option was to hit the ball high enough so it goes over the tree and hopefully comes down in the fairway for his next shot. So with a mighty swing, he hit the ball into the air and was surprised to see it hit near the top of a 300 foot tall tower that he had not noticed. The formula for this shot is h(x) = -16xsquared + 120x , where h is the height of the ball and x is the number of seconds the ball is in the air. How could Marc mathematically try to prove that he hit the ball near the top of the tower?While on the golf course last weekend Marc hit into the rough, landing the ball behind a tall tree. To get out of the scenario, his best option was to hit the ball high enough so it goes over the tree and hopefully comes down in the fairway for his next shot. So with a mighty swing, he hit the ball into the air and was surprised to see it hit near the top of a 300 foot tall tower that he had not noticed. The formula for this shot is h(x) = -16xsquared + 120x , where h is the height of the ball and x is the number of seconds the ball is in the air. How could Marc mathematically try to prove that he hit the ball near the top of the tower?​

Answer 1

To mathematically prove that Marc hit the ball near the top of the tower, he could use the equation h(x) = -16x^2 + 120x, where h is the height of the ball and x is the number of seconds the ball is in the air.

First, Marc would need to determine the maximum height the ball reached during its flight. This can be found by using the vertex formula, which is x = -b/2a. In this case, a = -16 and b = 120, so x = -120/(2*-16) = 3.75 seconds.

Next, Marc can substitute this value back into the original equation to find the maximum height the ball reached. h(3.75) = -16(3.75)^2 + 120(3.75) = 135 feet.

Since the tower is 300 feet tall, Marc could conclude that if the ball hit near the top of the tower, it would have reached a height close to 300 feet. Since the ball reached a maximum height of 135 feet, it is unlikely that it hit the top of the tower.

However, this calculation assumes that the tower is directly in line with Marc's shot and that the ball did not have any horizontal movement. In reality, the tower could have been to the left or right of the shot, and the ball could have had some horizontal movement, which would affect its height at impact. Therefore, this calculation can only provide a rough estimate and cannot definitively prove whether or not the ball hit near the top of the tower.