Jackie, who is 5 feet tall, throws a football into the air as if she were throwing it to someone. The path of the football can be expressed by the equation y=−0.05x2+0.75x+5. Solve as if you were to graph the parabola to figure out how far from Jackie the ball landed.(1 point)

Responses

18.5 feet
18.5 feet

5 feet
5 feet

20 feet
20 feet

7.5 feet

1 answer

To determine how far from Jackie the ball lands, we need to find the x-intercepts of the quadratic equation representing the path of the football, which is given by:

\[ y = -0.05x^2 + 0.75x + 5 \]

The x-intercepts occur where \( y = 0 \). Therefore, we set the equation to zero:

\[ 0 = -0.05x^2 + 0.75x + 5 \]

To solve for \( x \), we can rearrange the equation:

\[ -0.05x^2 + 0.75x + 5 = 0 \]

To make calculations easier, we can multiply the entire equation by -20 (to eliminate the decimal):

\[ x^2 - 15x - 100 = 0 \]

Now we will use the quadratic formula \( x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a} \). Here, \( a = 1 \), \( b = -15 \), and \( c = -100 \).

Calculating \( b^2 - 4ac \):

\[ b^2 - 4ac = (-15)^2 - 4(1)(-100) = 225 + 400 = 625 \]

Now plug this into the quadratic formula:

\[ x = \frac{-(-15) \pm \sqrt{625}}{2(1)} = \frac{15 \pm 25}{2} \]

This gives us two possible solutions:

  1. \( x = \frac{40}{2} = 20 \)
  2. \( x = \frac{-10}{2} = -5 \) (not meaningful in this context)

Since we are looking for a positive distance from Jackie, the ball lands at \( x = 20 \) feet.

Thus, the answer is:

20 feet