Problema Solution
Emily threw a ball up in the air from her tree house. It followed the path given by the parabola y=-0.16^2+7x+12, where x is the distance from the tree house (in feet) and y is the height above the ground (in feet)
At what distance away from the tree house did the ball strike the ground?
Answer provided by our tutors
The problem statement is ambiguous and no doubt contains errors. The parabolic equation should no doubt include x^2 rather than simply squarng 0.16 or -0.16. Finally, how tall is the tree house?
Let's assume she is 12 feet above the ground, then the ball is falling to the ground -12 feet below her level. We could then suppose that this must be the correct equation:
-12=0.16x^2 + 7x + 12
x=46.945
So based on these assumptions, the ball would strike the ground approximately 47 feet away from Emily.