Ben is climbing a tree with a lot of branches. His height off the ground at time t is 2t^2-5t+29 feet. To the nearest foot, what will his minimum height be?
2t^2 - 5t + 29
In the form at^2 + bt + c the minimum height will occur when t = - b/ [ 2a]
So the minimum height will be when t = -(-5) / { 2 * 2) = 5/4 seconds
Putting this back into the function to find the minimum height, we have
2 (5/4)^2 - 5(5/4) + 29 =
2 (25/16) - 25/4 + 29 =
50/16 - 100/16 + 29 =
-50/16 + 29 =
-25/8 + 29 =
25.875 ft = 26 ft