Question

Natalie kicked a soccer ball. The equation h=-16t^2+50t describes the height of the ball (T) seconds after it was kicked. Approximately how many seconds went by before the ball hit the ground?

Answer 1

25/8 or 3.125 seconds

Explanation:

To determine the time until the ball hits the ground, you need to solve the quadratic as the height equals zero.

0 = -16t^2+50t

This gives us a classing quadratic that you can factor or use the quadratic formula to solve.

x = 0, x = 25/8

If you graph this, think of y = 0 as the ground, so when the parabola intersects the x-axis on the right that represents how much time would have passed.