An object is launched from a platform. Its height, y (in meters), x seconds after the launch is modeled by the function y=−5(x−4)2+180

.

What is the object’s height after 10 seconds?

What is the rate of change for the interval 5 seconds to 8 seconds?

Show your work.

(2 points)

1 answer

To find the object's height after 10 seconds as well as the rate of change for the interval from 5 seconds to 8 seconds, we will use the given height function:

\[ y = -5(x - 4)^2 + 180 \]

Part A: Height after 10 seconds

We need to substitute \( x = 10 \) into the height function.

\[ y(10) = -5(10 - 4)^2 + 180 \]

Calculate \( 10 - 4 \):

\[ 10 - 4 = 6 \]

Now substitute back into the equation:

\[ y(10) = -5(6)^2 + 180 \]

Calculate \( 6^2 \):

\[ 6^2 = 36 \]

Now multiply:

\[ -5 \times 36 = -180 \]

So now we have:

\[ y(10) = -180 + 180 = 0 \]

The object's height after 10 seconds is 0 meters.

Part B: Rate of change from 5 seconds to 8 seconds

To find the rate of change of height over the interval from \( x = 5 \) to \( x = 8 \), we first need to calculate the height at both \( x = 5 \) and \( x = 8 \).

  1. Calculate height at \( x = 5 \):

\[ y(5) = -5(5 - 4)^2 + 180 \] \[ = -5(1)^2 + 180 \] \[ = -5 \times 1 + 180 \] \[ = -5 + 180 = 175 \]

So, \( y(5) = 175 \) meters.

  1. Calculate height at \( x = 8 \):

\[ y(8) = -5(8 - 4)^2 + 180 \] \[ = -5(4)^2 + 180 \] \[ = -5 \times 16 + 180 \] \[ = -80 + 180 = 100 \]

So, \( y(8) = 100 \) meters.

  1. Calculate the rate of change from 5 to 8 seconds:

The rate of change is given by the formula:

\[ \text{Rate of change} = \frac{y(8) - y(5)}{8 - 5} \]

Substituting the values we calculated:

\[ \text{Rate of change} = \frac{100 - 175}{8 - 5} \] \[ = \frac{-75}{3} = -25 \]

The rate of change of height from 5 seconds to 8 seconds is -25 meters per second.

Final Answers:

  • Height after 10 seconds: 0 meters
  • Rate of change from 5 seconds to 8 seconds: -25 meters per second.