6.3 ANSWER supporting path

Answers

Two students of Cambreur College are going to bungee jump. They are going to jump of a bridge. Before they are going to jump they want to know the height of the bridge. The instructor gives them the following formula to calculate the height. 

h = -0.5w² + 6.5 

Where h is the height in meters and w the width in meters. 

a) What type of parabola is this?  

This is a cap parabola. 

 

b) What is the height when the students are going to jump at a width of 0 meters? 

The width is 0 meters --> w = 0 --> fill this into the formula. 

h = -0.5 ^. 0² + 6.5 

h = 0 + 6.5

h = 6.5 meters

So, the height at a width of 0 meters is 6.5 meters. 

 

c) How about a width of 3 and -3 meters? 

•    For w = 3

h = -0.5 ^. 3² + 6.5 

h = -0.5 ^. 9 + 6.5 

h = -4.5 + 6.5 

h = 2 meters 

So, at a width of 3 meters the height is 2 meters. 

 

• For w = -3

h = -0.5 ^. (-3)² + 6.5 

h = -0.5 ^. 9 + 6.5 

h = -4.5 + 6.5 

h = 2 meters 

So, at a width of -3 meters the height is 2 meters. 

 

d) Make a table for the formula h = -0.5w² + 6.5 

e) What do you notice about the table? 

You can see that the answer of a table of a quadratic formula is symmetrical. This is for every quadratic formula.

f) Draw the graph of h = -0.5w² + 6.5