Example 2
Three students are shooting wads of paper with a rubber band, aiming for a trash can in the front of the room. The height of each student’s paper wad in feet is given as a function of the time in seconds. Which student’s paper wad flies the highest?
• The path of Alejandro’s paper wad is modeled by the equation .
• Melissa’s paper wad is estimated to reach the heights shown in the table below.
• After seconds, Connor’s paper wad achieves a maximum height of feet above the floor.
- Determine if each function represents a quadratic.
- Verify that the extremum for each function is the maximum value of each function.
- Determine the vertex of each function.
- Use the vertices to determine whose paper wad goes the highest.