am i right?

Question

Suppose a baseball is shot up from the ground straight up with an initial velocity of 64 feet per second. A function can be created by expressing distance above the ground, s, as a function of time, t. This function is s = -16t2 + v0t + s0
•16 represents 1/2g, the gravitational pull due to gravity (measured in feet per second2).
•v0 is the initial velocity (how hard do you throw the object, measured in feet per second).
•s0 is the initial distance above ground (in feet). If you are standing on the ground, then s0 = 0.
a) What is the function that describes this problem?
Answer:
is the answer a parabola?

Answer 1

If the baseball goes *straight* up and comes straight back down, you have the correct function. But it's not a parabola. To get a parabola, you have to have a horizontal component as well. That happens if it's shot upwards at anything except a 90 degree angle. You have to break the velocity vector into horixontal and vertical components and use the vertical component just like you did.

HTH ☺


Doug

Answer 2

Motion is straight up and down.

If you graph that function, the y axis is the height, and the x axis is the time. So if you wanted to know how high it has gone in 1 second, you could look at the graph.

Answer 3

the function creates a parabola if thats what you mean

Answer 4

yes. a plot s vs t is a parabola