The question relates to application of sine functions.

Question

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A carnival Ferris wheel with a radius of 7m makes one complete revolution every 16 seconds. The bottom of the wheel is 1.5m above the ground.

a) Draw a sketch to show a person's height (h) above the ground varies with time (t) for two revolutions, starting when the person gets onto the Ferris wheel at it lowest point.

b) Find the sine equation for the height (h) of the graph with respect to the time (t). (In radians)

--- Do I need to find the diameter for the circle in order to find the equation? And if I do, what do I do next? I don't know how to solve this problem, please help.

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Answers:

b) y = 7sin pi/8 (t-4) + 8.53

Answer 1

You will need the radius r of the wheel to do this problem. Let A be the angle the wheel has rotated from the person's lowest point. The altitude h of the person is 1.5 + r - r cos A
h = 1.5 + 7 (1 - cos A)
Make a graph of that funtion for 0 < A < 4 pi

I don't know what you mean by the "height of the graph".

Answer 2

What? I'm confused ...
My teacher showed us to use the period, critical intervals, max, min and mid points to graph any sine functions

I don't know where you got the "r - r cosA"

Answer 3

Draw a sketch to figure out how much the person rises vertically as the angle A changes. That is what you should get. A=0 is the lowest position.