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Mark Kim

Mrs. Payne

Pre-Calculus

17 March 2017

Roller Coaster Project

When we first started on the roller coaster project, we drew out our graph without

worrying to much about finding the equations. Once our graphs were checked and approved, we

started on finding the equations for each part of the roller coaster. We first started finding the

equations of the linear lines, as it seemed the easiest and fastest to do. To find a linear lines

equation, I used a ruler and drew a line that extended from the original drawing until it hit the

Y-axis and the X-axis. From there, I used Y2-Y1/X2-X1 (I plugged in the coordinates of the X

axis and the Y axis) to find the slope of the line. With knowing the slope of the line, and the Y

intercept of the line, I put the values into slope-intercept formula. (Y=Mx+B) Then, I used my

newly found linear equation and graphed the line to check to see if it created the same original

line. If it displayed the same line, I went onto the next equation and so on.

After finding all the linear equations, I began working on finding the equations for our

conics, two circles and an ellipse. To find the equation of a circle I first had to find the midpoint

of the circles diameter by using the midpoint formula. (X1+X2)/2 , (Y1+Y2)/2. The midpoint of

the diameter is also the center of the circle. With knowledge of the center and diameter, I now

had to find the radius by using the equation, Diameter/2. From there, I just had to plug in my

radius and center into the equation, (X-H)^2 + (Y-K)^2 = R^2, where H is the X coordinate for

the center, K being the Y coordinate for the center, and R being the radius to the second
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power. To find the equation of the ellipse, I first had to find the center of the ellipse. Then, I had

to determine each sides axis length, or distance from the center while keeping in mind that there

would be two different lengths. Once I found each sides axis lengths, I proceeded to plug in my

numbers into the equation (X-H)^2 / A^2 + (Y-K)^2 / B^2 =1. In the equation, H is the X

coordinate for the center, K is the Y coordinate for the center, A is the major axis (longer

axis) length squared, and B is the minor axis (shorter axis) length squared.

In order to find the higher order equation, I had to find my solutions (zeros) by looking

on the X axis for any intercepts and I found that there were six total roots (six X intercepts).

Then, using the roots that I found, I had to set up an equation by plugging the roots numerical

value to (X-#), which led me to the equation (X-3)(X-9)(X-17)(X-21)(X-27)(X-31). I also had

to solve for a variable, A to change the shape of the graph so I plugged in (2,-5) into

Y=a(X-3)(X-9)(X-17)(X-21)(X-27)(X-31). After what seemed like an eternity of multiplying,

distributing, and combining like terms, I got -5=a(1,4446,375). So to solve for the variable A, I

divided -5 by 1,4446,375. Then with the newly found A value, I multiplied A into the terms

in my new equation.

The final thing I had to find was my sinusoidal graphs equation. The equation

asin(b(x-h))+k helps me know what and where to plug things in. A is the amplitude, B is the

period, C is the phase shift, and D is the vertical shift. I decided to find the vertical shift first.

The vertical shift is how far the center of the sinusoidal graph will be from the X axis. Because

we already pre-graphed everything, this part was easy. After finding the vertical shift, I decided

to find the amplitude. The amplitude is how far the maximum and minimum of the sinusoidal

graph will be from the vertical shift. All I had to do was count the distance from the vertical shift
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value to the top of the sinusoidal graph. From there, I decided to find the period, or the length of

one cycle of a curve. To find the period, I found the length of one cycle by counting the distance

of each curve to the next, and plugged that number into 2pi/X. (X being the number I counted)

The last value I needed to find was the phase shift, and I found that out by finding out where the

sinusoidal graph started.

For critical values, I realized that linear equations do not have any so I skipped to conics.

The critical values of a circle is the radius and center. Since I already had all my equations, I

knew that (H,K) would be my center, and that R would be my radius. However, the critical

values for an ellipse is not as simple to find. The critical values of an ellipse are center, major

axis, minor axis, foci, eccentricity, vertices, and co-vertices. The center of an ellipse is (H,K)

from its equation. To find vertices and co-vertices, I had to plug in the value of A that I had

from my equation into (Ha, K) for vertices. For co-vertices, I had to plug in the value of B

that I had in my equation to H, Kb). Note that since I had a horizontal ellipse, I used those

equations. To find major and minor axis, I just had to find the axis length from one side to the

other. The longer axis is the major, and the shorter axis is the minor. To find the foci, I had to

find the value C, so I used the equation A^2 - b^2 = c^2. Since I know knew the value of C,

I plug it into (Hc,K). (The foci is always on the major axis!) To find eccentricity, I had to use

the equation C/A, where a comes from the original equation, and c from a^2 - b^2 = c^2. I

then moved onto finding critical values of the higher order polynomial. I first graphed the higher

order polynomial into my calculator. For intervals of decrease and increase, I had to find the X

values to get the maximums and minimums. To find the domain and range, I got the X and Y

values and used brackets and parenthesis to show if they were on the graph, as it was a
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piece-wise. To find maximums and minimums, I used my calculators program to give me the

values. To find the critical values for the sinusoidal graph, I first found the vertical shift. The

vertical shift is the value of D, or the numerical value of the distance between the X axis and

the center of the graph. Then I found the amplitude A or the length of the vertical shift to the

maximum and minimum of the graph. Also, the amplitude is always positive when used as a

critical value. Next, I found the phase shift. The phase shift is the value where you start graphing

the sinusoidal function. Then, I found the period by counting the distance between one full cycle

of curves. I like to call it X. I had to plug X into 2pi/X to find the period of the graph. The

last thing I had to find was the frequency of the graph. The frequency is the reciprocal of the

period, and in other words, I just had to flip the periods number. For example, if the period was

5/2, the frequency would be .

I do not think our roller coaster would actually work. At the very beginning, there is an

incline, and then at the top there is a very small distance of decline that leads into a huge loop

(circle.) It seems that there will not be enough speed and momentum to make the roller coaster

successfully complete the loop. If we were to increase the distance of the decline track that leads

into the first loop, there is definitely a possibility that it would work.