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Expert: - 1/16/2010


Question
I was told this one's pretty simple but I just can't seem to figure it out, here it is: If a tightrope walker falls, he will land on a safety net. His height h in feet after a fall can be modeled by h(t) = 60-16t^2, where t is the time in seconds. How many seconds will the tightrope walker fall before landing on the safety net?

The height from the tightrope to the ground is given as 60 ft and the height from the safety net to the ground is 11 ft.
Thanks a ton :)

Answer
Basically, the height over the safeway net is 60 - 16tē.
I will call this h(t) = 60 - 16tē.

To find when the person hits the net, sovle h(t) = 11, since 11 is the height of the net.

This means 60 - 16tē = 11, or 16tē = 49, or tē = 49/16.
This can be seeen to mean that t = 7/4.

The velocity is given as 16t, so velocity is16*7/4 = 4*7 = 28.

That does not seem like fast enough to hit the ground when the tightmat is 11 feet of the ground.
Here is a good tramploline to watch: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/VerTex/286353

I've tried looking up something on the equations of trampolines, but didn't find much,
but I didn't take that much time to do so.

If you wish me to spend a little more time trying to find equations on them,
send me another note, personal to me.

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