Application of polynomial function in real life

Question

unklerhaukus · Answer

When a car is traveling on the road, 

there will be resistance from friction of the tires on the road, this is linear with v

there will be a quadratic resistance with the air, which is quadratic with v

for fast speed there will also be air resistance that is cubic with v which is related to the cross-section area of the car

when the car is moving slowly, the liner term dominates, and the others can be ignored,

the faster car is traveling more terms of the polynomial are required to accurately describe the motion of the car

kainui · Answer

Throw a ball up in the air, it falls back down as a parabola.

unklerhaukus · Answer

This is why a truck (doesn't have to move fast) often has a large cross-sectional area,
whereas a race cars (do have to move fast) have a small  cross-sectional area,