Rebels launch a cannonball from a 58.8ft tall cliff toward their enemy's ship. The cannonball travels 19.6ft per second (ft/s). The equation for the cannonball's height, h, at time, t, after launch is h(t) = -4.9t^2 + 19.6t + 58.8, where h is in feet and t is in seconds.

Question

After how many seconds will the cannonball strike the enemy's ship?

What is tue maximum height the cannonball reaches?

Answer 1

ship impact ... h = 0 ... solve the quadratic for t

time for max height is on the axis of symmetry ... t = -b / 2 a = -19.6 / - 9.8
... plug t into the height equation to find max height