Name:_________________________

Date:___________________ Period:_________
A ball is thrown from the top of a 12 feet tall bridge. The height, h in feet
from the ground, of the ball at a given time, t in second, is represented by
the following quadratic function. Graph it:
h(t )=t 2 + 4 t+12

1. What was the height of the ball at time zero? (Estimate using the
graph, then check it algebraically)
2. When does the ball hit the ground? (Estimate using the graph, then
check it algebraically)

3. What is the highest that the ball goes according to the graph?
a. How many seconds does the ball take to reach the highest
amount of feet the ball goes?

Name:_________________________
Date:___________________ Period:_________

b. Write this as a coordinate point that represents the highest point

on the graph. Rewrite the function so that you can easily see
this point represented.

4. When is the ball 14 feet off the ground? (Estimate it on the graph, but
check your estimation algebraically)

5. What is the height of the ball at 8 seconds?

a. Consider your response from the previous problem; does this

answer make sense? Why or why not?

b. If you had to restrict the time values of this function to time

values that had only reasonable ball heights, what would the
times be?

6. How long does it take the ball to reach 20 feet?

a. Consider your response to number 9. Why do you think this was

your answer? If we were to solve for an answer using algebra
what kind of answers would we get?

b. If we had to restrict the height values in this function to heights

that corresponded to only real time values, what would our
heights be?