Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Kicking the Math Habit

Fresh off of her final math exam, Dona pointed out that it would take 2.29 posts per day to reach 50 for the month. Often, by the time these symptoms of math addiction emerge, it's too late for cure. I worry for her, having succumbed myself in 1990. The only semi-reliable treatment is to wean them off slowly, with isolated problems rather than large collections. As it happens, I tutor a high school senior and have just such a problem handy.

In physics it is shown that the height 's' of a ball thrown straight up with an initial sped of 96 ft/sec from ground level is s=s(t)= -16t^2 +96t where t is the elapsed time that the ball is in the air. When does the ball strike the ground?

a) 3 seconds
b) 6 seconds
c) 16 seconds
d) What do you mean "straight up"? It can't be done!

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