Question

John is standing on a bridge when he accidentally drops his toy over the railing. The table shows the height in feet, f(t), of the toy at t seconds.



Choose the function that represents the data.


f(x) = −x16 + 200
f(x) = −16x2 + 200
f(x) = −16x + 200

Answer 1

f(x) = −16x^2 + 200

Reason: free-fall under gravity gives a quadratic h(t) = h0 − (1/2)gt^2. Using g ≈ 32 ft/s^2 gives h(t) = h0 − 16t^2. With initial height 200 ft, f(t) = −16t^2 + 200.