SOLUTION: A toy rocket is shot vertically upward from the ground. Its distance in feet from the ground in t seconds is given by s(t)=-16(t^2)+142t. At what time(s) will the ball be 172 ft fr

Algebra ->  Coordinate Systems and Linear Equations  -> Linear Equations and Systems Word Problems -> SOLUTION: A toy rocket is shot vertically upward from the ground. Its distance in feet from the ground in t seconds is given by s(t)=-16(t^2)+142t. At what time(s) will the ball be 172 ft fr      Log On


   



Question 166879: A toy rocket is shot vertically upward from the ground. Its distance in feet from the ground in t seconds is given by s(t)=-16(t^2)+142t. At what time(s) will the ball be 172 ft from the ground?
Answer by nerdybill(7384) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
s(t)=-16(t^2)+142t
.
In this case, they are saying that if s(t) equals 172 feet what is t?
.
Simply set s(t) to 172 and solve for 't':
s(t)=-16(t^2)+142t
172=-16(t^2)+142t
16(t^2)-142t+172=0
8(t^2)-71t+86=0
.
Since it is difficult to factor, we use the quadratic equation.
Doing so will yield:
x = {7.428, 1.447}
Units are in seconds
.
Here's the quadratic equation:
Solved by pluggable solver: SOLVE quadratic equation with variable
Quadratic equation ax%5E2%2Bbx%2Bc=0 (in our case 8x%5E2%2B-71x%2B86+=+0) has the following solutons:

x%5B12%5D+=+%28b%2B-sqrt%28+b%5E2-4ac+%29%29%2F2%5Ca

For these solutions to exist, the discriminant b%5E2-4ac should not be a negative number.

First, we need to compute the discriminant b%5E2-4ac: b%5E2-4ac=%28-71%29%5E2-4%2A8%2A86=2289.

Discriminant d=2289 is greater than zero. That means that there are two solutions: +x%5B12%5D+=+%28--71%2B-sqrt%28+2289+%29%29%2F2%5Ca.

x%5B1%5D+=+%28-%28-71%29%2Bsqrt%28+2289+%29%29%2F2%5C8+=+7.42771842847642
x%5B2%5D+=+%28-%28-71%29-sqrt%28+2289+%29%29%2F2%5C8+=+1.44728157152358

Quadratic expression 8x%5E2%2B-71x%2B86 can be factored:
8x%5E2%2B-71x%2B86+=+8%28x-7.42771842847642%29%2A%28x-1.44728157152358%29
Again, the answer is: 7.42771842847642, 1.44728157152358. Here's your graph:
graph%28+500%2C+500%2C+-10%2C+10%2C+-20%2C+20%2C+8%2Ax%5E2%2B-71%2Ax%2B86+%29