A person is standing close to the edge on top of a 288ft building throws a baseball vertically upwards.

Question

The quadratic function s(t)=-16t^2+48t+288 models the ball’s height above the ground, s(t), in feet, t seconds after it was thrown. How many seconds does it take for the ball to finally hit the ground?

Answer 1

Simply solve s(t) = 0 for t....use the quadratic formula.

The answer is irrational and is a bit more than 4.5 seconds.