To calculate the rate of change in the basketball's height between the first and fourth seconds, we can use the formula for the average rate of change, which is given by:
\[ \text{Average rate of change} = \frac{h(t_2) - h(t_1)}{t_2 - t_1} \]
In this case, \(t_1 = 1\) second and \(t_2 = 4\) seconds. From the table, we have:
- \(h(1) = 5\) feet
- \(h(4) = 2\) feet
Now we can plug these values into the formula:
\[ \text{Average rate of change} = \frac{h(4) - h(1)}{4 - 1} = \frac{2 - 5}{4 - 1} = \frac{-3}{3} = -1 \]
Therefore, the rate of change in the basketball's height between the first and fourth second is \(-1\) feet per second.