SOLUTION: I have a question with this word problem. "A toy rocket is launched from ground level. Its distance in feet from the ground in t seconds is given by the formula {{{s(t)=-16t^2+

Question 682261: I have a question with this word problem.
"A toy rocket is launched from ground level. Its distance in feet from the ground in t seconds is given by the formula
I need to know when will the rocket be 550ft from the ground?
I already plugged in 550 for s(t) but am unsure of how to proceed further.
Answer by nerdybill(7384) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

"A toy rocket is launched from ground level. Its distance in feet from the ground in t seconds is given by the formula
I need to know when will the rocket be 550ft from the ground?
I already plugged in 550 for s(t) but am unsure of how to proceed further.
.
That is the right approach.

.
applying the "quadratic formula" yields:
t = {9.31, 3.69}
so, the rocket will be at 550 feet at
3.69 seconds (on the way up)
and again at
9.31 seconds (on the way down)
.
.
Details of quadratic formula follows:

Solved by pluggable solver: SOLVE quadratic equation with variable

Quadratic equation (in our case ) has the following solutons:

For these solutions to exist, the discriminant should not be a negative number.

First, we need to compute the discriminant : .

Discriminant d=2016 is greater than zero. That means that there are two solutions: .

Quadratic expression can be factored:

Again, the answer is: 9.30624304008046, 3.69375695991954. Here's your graph:

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