The 1994 Winter Olympics included the aerials competition in skiing. In this event skiers speed down a ramp that slopes sharply upward at the end. The sharp upward slope launches them into the air, where they perform acrobatic maneuvers. In the women's competition, the end of a typical launch ramp is directed 63° above the horizontal. With this launch angle, a skier attains a height of 13.6 m above the end of the ramp. What is the skier's launch speed?

Answer 1

let s = speed at launch
v = 0 at top = s sin 63 - g t
so at top
t = s sin 63/g = .0909 s
h = 13.6 = s sin 63 t - 4.9 t^2
13.6 = .081s^2 - .0405 s^2
s^2 = 336
s = 18.3 m/s