To develop a computational model of the satellite's velocity based on the distance from the Earth and the time elapsed, I would create a function that takes two lists as inputs—one for distances (X) and one for time (Y). The function would then compute the velocity (V) using the formula

Question

, iterating through each pair of values in the lists. Finally, I would test the implementation using the Trinket tool to ensure the calculations are correct and the output is as expected.

Answer 1

To create a computational model of a satellite's velocity based on the distance from Earth and the time elapsed, you can follow these steps to implement the function. Here's a Python function that takes two lists: one for distances and one for time, computes the velocity for each corresponding distance-time pair, and returns a list of velocities.

The formula for velocity given distance (d) and time (t) is: \[ V = \frac{d}{t} \]

If the time is zero, you should handle that case to avoid division by zero.

Here’s how you can implement this:

def calculate_velocity(distances, times):
    # Initialize an empty list to store the velocities
    velocities = []
    
    # Iterate over the pairs of distances and times
    for d, t in zip(distances, times):
        if t == 0:  # Check for division by zero
            velocities.append(float('inf'))  # You could also use None or any other placeholder
        else:
            v = d / t  # Calculate velocity
            velocities.append(v)  # Append the calculated velocity to the list
            
    return velocities

# Example Usage:
distances = [10000, 20000, 30000, 40000]  # Example distances in meters
times = [10, 20, 30, 0]  # Example times in seconds (last time is zero for testing)

velocities = calculate_velocity(distances, times)
print(velocities)  # This will print the calculated velocities

Explanation:

1. Function Definition: The function calculate_velocity takes two lists distances (X) and times (Y).
2. List Initialization: An empty list velocities is created to store calculated velocities.
3. Iterating with zip: Using zip, the function loops through each distance and corresponding time.
4. Division by Zero Handling: If the time is zero, it appends float('inf') to signify infinite velocity (you can choose a different way to handle this if preferred).
5. Velocity Calculation: If the time is not zero, it calculates the velocity and appends it to the list.
6. Output: Finally, the function returns the list of velocities.

Testing the Implementation:

You can test this implementation in the Trinket tool (or any Python environment) by providing sample distance and time values, as shown in the example usage. The output will be a list of computed velocities based on the input data. If the input times contain a zero, you will see how the function handles that case as well.