While hiking, Julia kicked a small rock off a ledge that was meters above a crevasse. Graph the equation f(x) = −4.9x2+9

. Use the graph to determine when the rock will hit the bottom of the crevasse, 2 meters below ground level. Round your answer to the nearest tenth of a second.

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The rock will hit the bottom of the crevasse in seconds.

1 answer

To solve this problem, we need to analyze the equation \( f(x) = -4.9x^2 + 9 \). This equation represents the height of the rock above the ground in meters, where \( x \) is the time in seconds.

We want to find out when the rock hits the bottom of the crevasse, which is 2 meters below ground level. Therefore, we need to find the value of \( x \) when the height \( f(x) \) equals -2 meters.

Setting the equation equal to -2:

\[ -4.9x^2 + 9 = -2 \]

Now, we can move -2 to the left side of the equation:

\[ -4.9x^2 + 9 + 2 = 0 \]

This simplifies to:

\[ -4.9x^2 + 11 = 0 \]

Now, we can isolate \( x^2 \):

\[ -4.9x^2 = -11 \] \[ x^2 = \frac{11}{4.9} \]

Calculating the right side:

\[ x^2 \approx \frac{11}{4.9} \approx 2.2449 \]

Now, taking the square root of both sides:

\[ x \approx \sqrt{2.2449} \approx 1.5 \text{ seconds} \]

Rounding to the nearest tenth, the rock will hit the bottom of the crevasse in approximately \( 1.5 \) seconds.

Thus, the final answer is:

The rock will hit the bottom of the crevasse in 1.5 seconds.