A high school senior vacationing in Jamaica for her senior class trip jumped off a 20 foot cliff into a pool of water. The height of the senior above the water is modeled by the function

h(t)=-t^2+t/4+5/4

where h(t) is the height of the senior above the water in feet t seconds after jumping off the cliff. How many seconds will it take for the senior to reach the water?

3 answers

Where did you find this problem?

at t = 0, the senior has to be at 20 feet I think.

however your function shows her at 1.25 feet at t = 0

That is not right.

Moreover in real life h = Hi + Vi t -(1/2) g t^2
in the feet/seconds system
-(1/2) g t^2 is about -16 t^2
NOT -t^2
found it in my math homework... I thought it was a weird one too. Thank you
As it is stated it is impossible to solve because you can not start at both 20 and at 1.25 feet :)