Question

Help? :)
The pilot of a helicopter plans to release a bucket of water on a forest fire. The height y in feet of the water t seconds after its release is modeled by y = -16t2 - 2t + 400. The horizontal distance x in feet between the water and its point of release is modeled by x = 91t. To the nearest foot, at what horizontal distance from the target should the pilot begin releasing the water? ____ ft

Answer 1

how long does it take the water to fall to the ground? or rather, for what t value will the height be 0?

Answer 2

im assuming that you have been taught how to determine the roots of a quadratic equation by many methods, the notable one would prolly be the quadratic formula ... this is simply an application of that

Answer 3

so plug in a b and c in the formula?

Answer 4

of course, unless you know of any alternative values to plug in :)

Answer 5

once you have a suitable t value, plug it into x=91t

Answer 6

Okay, thank you!

Answer 7

good luck ;)

Answer 8

@amistre64 thank you....i didn't know how to go about the question.....but with your explanation i was able to do it..

Answer 9

your welcome too then :) i used to be rather terrible at word problems meself.