Question

If a ball is thrown straight up into the air with an initial velocity of 65 ft/s, its height in feet after t seconds is given by f(t)=65t−16t2 Find the average velocity for the time period beginning when t=2 and lasting (i) 0.5 seconds 61.5 (ii) 0.1 seconds 65.74 (iii) 0.01 seconds 65.98 (iii) 0.001 seconds 65.99 Based on the above results, guess what the instantaneous velocity of the ball is when t=2.

Answer 1

Answer:

a) $v_{1}=\frac{(62.5-66)ft}{(2.5-2)s}=-7ft/s$

$v_{2}=\frac{(65.94-66)ft}{(2.1-2)s}=-0.6ft/s$

$v_{3}=\frac{(66.0084-66)ft}{(2.01-2)s}=0.84ft/s$

$v_{4}=\frac{(66.001-66)ft}{(2.001-2)s}=1ft/s$

b) $v=65-32(2)=1ft/s$

Explanation:

From the exercise we got the ball's equation of position:

$y=65t-16t^{2}$

a) To find the average velocity at the given time we need to use the following formula:

$v=\frac{y_{2}-y_{1}  }{t_{2}-t_{1}  }$

Being said that, we need to find the ball's position at t=2, t=2.5, t=2.1, t=2.01, t=2.001

$y_{t=2}=65(2)-16(2)^{2} =66ft$

$y_{t=2.5}=65(2.5)-16(2.5)^{2} =62.5ft$

$v_{1}=\frac{(62.5-66)ft}{(2.5-2)s}=-7ft/s$

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$y_{t=2.1}=65(2.1)-16(2.1)^{2} =65.94ft$

$v_{2}=\frac{(65.94-66)ft}{(2.1-2)s}=-0.6ft/s$

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$y_{t=2.01}=65(2.01)-16(2.01)^{2} =66.0084ft$

$v_{3}=\frac{(66.0084-66)ft}{(2.01-2)s}=0.84ft/s$

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$y_{t=2.001}=65(2.001)-16(2.001)^{2} =66.001ft$

$v_{4}=\frac{(66.001-66)ft}{(2.001-2)s}=1ft/s$

b) To find the instantaneous velocity we need to derivate the equation

$v=\frac{df}{dt}=65-32t$

$v=65-32(2)=1ft/s$