Velocity Question I am stuck on.

SilentButDeadly

Senior member
May 6, 2004
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I am having trouble figuring out what to do, and what this question is exactly asking to do. This question is from Chapter 3.2 #10

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10. An object thrown vertically with a speed v0 reches a height h at time t, where:

h=v0*t-0.5*g*t^2

Write and test a function that computes the time t required to reach a specified height h, for a given value of v0. The function's inputs should be h, v0, and g. Test your function for the case where h=100m, v0=50m/s, and g=9.81m/s^2. Interpret both answers.
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I could take the derivative maybe and that would give me acceleration I believe. I might could use the equation v=v0+g*t then maybe... I am really just totally lost on this one. Any help whatsoever will be appreciated!

-Seth
 

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
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g is your acceleration. You don't have to take derivatives. It's simple plug and chug. There are 4 unknowns, you are given 3, just use the quadratic formula to solve for t.
 

SilentButDeadly

Senior member
May 6, 2004
440
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Originally posted by: silverpig
g is your acceleration. You don't have to take derivatives. It's simple plug and chug. There are 4 unknowns, you are given 3, just use the quadratic formula to solve for t.

Amazing! Your a genius! This gives me the right answers when I work it out, so I am going to go see how I implement this in Matlab now. Thanks a ton bro!