Algebra 2 Companion Book, Volume 1

5.1.3 Solving Quadratic Equations by Graphing and Factoring (continued) Example 3 Sports Application Any object that is thrown or launched into the air is a projectile. The general function that approximates the height h in feet of a projectile on Earth after t seconds is h ( t ) = − 16 t 2 + v 0 t + h 0 , where v 0 is the projectile’s initial velocity in feet per second and h 0 is the initial height in feet. The initial velocity and initial height occur when t = 0.

Example 4 Finding Roots by Using Special Factors Some quadratic expressions have special factoring rules. Difference of Two Squares: a 2 − b 2 = ( a + b )( a − b ) Perfect Square Trinomial: a 2 + 2 ab + b 2 = ( a + b ) 2 ; a 2 − 2 ab + b 2 = ( a − b ) 2

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