A basketball player shoots a free throw from the foul line. The equation of the path it will travel is h = -4.9t2 + 18t + 1.2 which gives the approximate height, h, of the basketball in meters after t seconds. When does the ball reach its maximum height?
+2666 The maximum of the quadratic occurs at \(-{ b \over 2a}\).
This means that the maximum occurs at \(- {18 \over 2 \times -4.9} = {180 \over 98}\)
We can now find the max height by subsituting \({180 \over 98}\) for t, yielding: \(-4.9({180 \over 98})^2 + 18({180 \over 98}) + 1.2 = \text{____}\)
Can you take it from here?
