Question

A ball is shot straight up from the top of a 15-story building. The motion of the ball could be described by the function: h(t) = -16t^2 + 144t + 160

where t represents the time the ball is in the air in seconds and h(t) represents the height in feet .

Why is the leading coefficient negative?

Answers

Steve
because gravity pulls downward.
The initial 144 ft/s gets reduced by the constant pull of gravity until at the vertex, the ball starts falling.

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