document.write( "Question 276918: Help. I'm totally perplexed by the question: An angry construction worker throws his wrench downward from a height of 128 feet with an initial velocity of 32 feet per second. The height of the wrench above the ground after 6 seconds is given by S(t) = -16t^2 -32t +128.\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "What is the height after 1 second? How long does it take for the wrench to reach the ground?
\n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #201735 by Earlsdon(6294)\"\" \"About 
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let's see if we can \"un\"perplex you!
\n" ); document.write( "Given:
\n" ); document.write( "\"S%28t%29+=+-16t%5E2-32%2B128\" This is the quadratic equation that shows the relationship of the height (h or S) of an object as a function of time (t).
\n" ); document.write( "The general form is:
\n" ); document.write( "\"h%28t%29+=+-%281%2F2%29gt%5E2+%2Bv%5B0%5Dt%2Bh%5B0%5D\" where h (or S) = height of object, \"v%5B0%5D\"= initial velocity, a negative \"v%5B0%5D\" means object is going down, and \"h%5B0%5D\"is the initial height of the object, so, to find the height of the object after 1 second, substitute t = 1...
\n" ); document.write( "\"S%28t%29+=+-16t%5E2-32t%2B128\" Substitute t=1
\n" ); document.write( "\"S%281%29+=+-16%281%29%5E2-32%281%29%2B128\"
\n" ); document.write( "\"S%281%29+=+-48%2B128\"
\n" ); document.write( "\"S%281%29+=+80\"feet.
\n" ); document.write( "The hammer (or was it a wrench?) would be 80 feet above the ground after 1 second had elapsed.
\n" ); document.write( "The second question...How long does it take for it (the wrench) to reach the ground? So you are really asking...\"At what time t will the height S be zero?\"
\n" ); document.write( "\"S%28t%29+=+-16t%5E2-32t%2B128\" Set \"S%28t%29+=+0\" and solve for t.
\n" ); document.write( "\"-16t%5E2-32t%2B128+=+0\" First factor (-16) to simplify the equation a bit.
\n" ); document.write( "\"-16%28t%5E2%2B2t-8%29+=+0\" so, from the zero product rule, we get...
\n" ); document.write( "\"t%5E2%2B2t-8+=+0\" Now factor this trinomial.
\n" ); document.write( "\"%28t%2B4%29%28t-2%29+=+0\" which means that...
\n" ); document.write( "\"t%2B4+=+0\" or \"t%2B2+=+0\" from which we get...
\n" ); document.write( "\"t+=+-4\" or \"highlight%28t+=+2%29\" Discard the negative solution.
\n" ); document.write( "So it would take 2 seconds for the wrench to reach the ground.
\n" ); document.write( "P.S. Your statement \"The height of the wrench above the ground after 6 seconds is given by \"S%28t%29+=+-16t%5E2-32T%2B128\"\" does not make sense. The equation is ok but this will tell you the height above ground after t seconds.
\n" ); document.write( "To find the height above ground after 6 seconds, you would have to substitute t = 6 into the equation and solve for S(6).
\n" ); document.write( "
\n" );