Mikalee, a fighter pilot, ejects from her burning plane. Once she is safely on the ground, she launches a flare to attract the attention of a rescue plane. The initial velocity of the flare is 1600 ft/sec. The height of the flare, h (t), at any time, t, is modeled by the function h (t) = - 16 t 2 + 1600 t. What is the maximum height of the flare?

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Mathematics

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20 July, 04:26

Mikalee, a fighter pilot, ejects from her burning plane. Once she is safely on the ground, she launches a flare to attract the attention of a rescue plane. The initial velocity of the flare is 1600 ft/sec. The height of the flare, h (t), at any time, t, is modeled by the function h (t) = - 16 t 2 + 1600 t. What is the maximum height of the flare?

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Krista Eaton · Answer 1

To find a maximum, take the derivative of a function and set it equal to zero. The derivative in this case would be - 32t+1600=0, therefore 1600=32t and t=1600/32. Plugging this back into the original equation we can get the height at this time, which is the maximun height.