Question

To the nearest tenth of a second, how much time would it take the penny to hit the ground?

Answer 1

In this problem, we want to approximate when a penny will hit the grownd after it has been dropped from the back of the bleachers.

Since we have been given a table, we can make a close estimate based on the y-values.

When the penny hits the ground, the value of y will be 0.

Notice on the table provided that the penny is going to reach 0 between the values of 0.6 and 0.7 seconds.

At 0.6 seconds, it has a distance of 0.236 meters from the ground.

At 0.7 seconds, supposing the penny went past hitting the ground, it was have a distance of

`|-0.401|=0.401\text{ meters from the ground.}`

Since the penny is closer to 0 at the 0.6 s mark than the 0.7 s mark, we can say 0.6 seconds is when the penny will hit the ground.

Here is a graphic model of the penny moving toward the ground: