SOLUTION: As a bird flies upward, it drops a berry at a height of 600 feet above the ground. The equation h(t)=-16t^2+8t+600 describes the height "h", of the berry in feet "t" seconds after

Click here to see ALL problems on Linear Equations And Systems Word Problems

Question 408886: As a bird flies upward, it drops a berry at a height of 600 feet above the ground. The equation h(t)=-16t^2+8t+600 describes the height "h", of the berry in feet "t" seconds after it is dropped. Ignoring air resistance, how long does it take the berry to hit the ground?
Answer by nerdybill(7384) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
given:
h(t)=-16t^2+8t+600
.
Set h(t) to zero and solve for t:
0=-16t^2+8t+600
dividing both sides by -8:
0=2t^2-t-75
applying the quadratic formula we get:
t = {6.38, -5.88}
you can throw out the negative answer leaving;
t = 6.38 seconds
.
details of quadratic 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=601 is greater than zero. That means that there are two solutions: .

Quadratic expression can be factored:

Again, the answer is: 6.37882533606563, -5.87882533606563. Here's your graph:

= 0