A baseball player hits a baseball into the outfield. The following equation models the ball's path. If not caught, when will the baseball land? Round to the nearest tenth second.
h = -16t2 + 50t + 4
A. 3.0 seconds
B. 3.2 seconds
C. 3.4 seconds
D. 3.6 seconds

Question

A baseball player hits a baseball into the outfield. The following equation models the ball's path. If not caught, when will the baseball land? Round to the nearest tenth second.
h = -16t2 + 50t + 4
	A.	3.0 seconds
	B.	3.2 seconds
	C.	3.4 seconds
	D.	3.6 seconds

phi · Answer

in this equation, h is the height above the ground (in feet, though they don't tell you this).The baseball will be on the ground when h=0  (make sense?)
so you are trying to solve
-16 t^2 +50 t + 4 = 0

for t, which will be the time when the ball is on the ground.
use the quadratic formula (if you know it)

t = (-b ± sqrt(b*b -4*a*c)/(2a)

Here, a= -16, b=50, and c=4