3.2/3.

5 – Quadratic Word Problems - Practice

1. Jason jumped off a cliff into the ocean while vacationing with some friends. His height as a function of time could be modeled
by the function ℎ(𝑡) = −16𝑡 2 + 16𝑡 + 480, where t is the time in seconds and h is the height in feet.
a. How long did it take for Jason to reach his maximum height?
b. What was the highest point that Jason will reach?

2. The perimeter of a rectangle is 100 ft. What is the maximum area of such a rectangle?

3. The sum of the squares of two consecutive odd integers is 290. What are the integers?

4. A rectangular area is to be divided into two corrals using 100 yds of fencing. If the rancher wants the total area to be
maximum, what dimensions should be used to make the corrals?

5. The width of a rectangle is five less than twice the length. If the area of the rectangle is 12m2, what are the dimensions of the
rectangle?

6. What is the maximum product of two numbers that have a sum of 24. What are the two numbers?

7. The sum of the squares of two consecutive even integers is 164. What are all possible integers?

8. In baseball, the flight of a pop-up may be described as 𝑑(𝑡) = −16𝑡 2 + 80𝑡 + 3.5 where d gives the ball’s height above the
ground in feet as a function of time t, in seconds.
a. What is the maximum height of the ball?
b. When does the ball reach its maximum height?

9. The sum of the squares of two consecutive integers is 85. What are the integers?

10. A rectangle is 3m longer that it is wide. It’s area is 154 m2. What are the dimensions of the rectangle.

11. A tennis court is 13m longer than it is wide. It’s area is 264 m2. What are the lengths of its’ sides?

12. A soccer ball is kicked so that it’s height in feet, h, after t seconds is modelled by the function
h(t) = 20t – 5t2. How long will the ball be in the air? What is the maximum height of the ball?

13. The sum of the squares of two consecutive even integers is 100. What are all possible integers?

14. A high school is planning to build a new rectangular playing field surrounded by a running track. The track coach wants the
one lap to be 500m. The football coach wants the infield to be as large as possible. What should the dimension of the track
be for both coaches to be happy?

15. Tickets to a fair are $6. At this price, they sell 100 tickets. The organizers found that for every $1 increase in ticket price, 10
less people will go. What ticket price will maximize revenue?

16. A pool measures 12m by 10m. The deck around it has a uniform width and an area equal to twice the area of the pool. What is
the width of the deck?

ANSWERS:

1. a) 0.5 sec b) 484ft 12. In the air for 4sec, max height is 20ft
2. A = 625 ft2 13. -8 and -6 OR 6 and 8
3. -13 and -11 OR 11 and 13 14. L=125m W=250/
4. 25yd by 16.7yd 15. $8
5. 4m by 3m 16. 4m wide
6. Max. product = 144, numbers are 12 and 12
7. -10 and -8 OR 8 and 10
8. a) 103.5 ft. b) 2.5 sec
9. -7 and -6 OR 6 and 7
10. 14m by 11m
11. 24m by 11m