Pre-Calculus GIFT #2

ROLLER COASTER POLYNOMIALS

Weight = 2 Gift Grades

(PART 1: Application problems – small group in class)
(PART 2: Individual roller coaster design – outside of class)

Purpose:
In real life, polynomial functions are used to design roller coaster rides. In this
project, you will apply skills acquired in Unit 2 to analyze roller coaster
polynomial functions and to design your own roller coaster ride.

Project Components:
Application Problems – You will have to answer questions and solve problems
involving polynomial functions presented in real life scenarios. Through your work,
you are expected to gain an in depth understanding of real life application of
concepts such as sketching and analyzing graphs of polynomial functions, dividing
polynomials, determining zeros of a polynomial function, determining polynomial
function behavior, etc.
INDIVIDUAL Roller Coaster Design – You will design your own roller coaster
polynomial using the skills learned during the small group application problems.

Project Evaluation Criteria:

Your project will be assessed based on the following general criteria:
Application Problems – ONE GROUP ANSWER SHEET
will be graded on correctness and accuracy of the answers.
Provide all answers in a full sentence form.
Make sure you clearly justify your answers where required
Possible points: 0-3 points per question based on accuracy 54 points
Professional appearance of the work 10 points
TOTAL POINTS = 64 points

Individual Roller Coaster Design Report – will be graded as follows

All 10 questions are labeled in the report and answered fully 10 points
Roller Coaster design meets all minimum requirements 7 points
Clear and accurate response for each part 0-3 points 30 points
Professional appearance of your report 10 points
Creativity 7 points
TOTAL POINTS 64 points

Individual Roller Coaster Design REPORT CRITERIA:

Report MUST be completed on a separate sheet of clean, neat, copy paper.
All parts MUST be answered and final answers clearly labeled.
The graph showing your polynomial function MUST be printed from the calculator
you can use TI Connect or Online Calculator
Graph print out MUST have
the x-axes and the y-axes labeled with zeroes and the y-intercept clearly labeled
you must show the window settings used to create the graph
ALL 10 parts of the report MUST be labeled !

Pre-Calculus ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT GIFT #2

ROLLER COASTER POLYNOMIALS
Name(s): ________________ ________________
_________________ ________________
Date: ___________ Period: ________

APPLICATION PROBLEMS:

Fred, Elena, Michael, and Diane enjoy roller Coasters. Whenever a new roller
Coaster opens near their town, they try to be among the first to ride.
One Saturday, the four friends decide to ride a new coaster. While waiting in line,
Fred notices that part of this coaster resembles the graph of a polynomial function
that they have been studying in their Pre-Calculus class.

1. The brochure for the coaster says that, for the first 10 seconds of the ride,
the height of the coaster can be determined by , where t is the time in seconds and
h is the height in feet. Classify this polynomial by degree and by number of terms.

This polynomial is a cubic trinomial

2. Graph the polynomial function for the height of the roller coaster
on the coordinate plane at the right.
25

3. Find the height of the coaster at t = 0 seconds.

Explain why this answer makes sense.

h(0)= 0 2
4 6 8
This value means that the ride starts on the ground

4. Find the height of the coaster 9 seconds after the ride begins. Explain how you
found the answer.

h(9) = 2.7 feet the answer is found by substituting 9 for each x in the
equation

5. Evaluate h(60). Does this answer make sense? Identify practical (valid real
life) domain of the ride for this model. CLEARLY EXPLAIN your reasoning. (Hint.:
Mt. Everest is 29,028 feet tall.)

h(60) = 48,060 feet

the answer is not reasonable, because it is too high for a roller coaster ride.

On the graph, after 10 seconds, ride keeps increasing in height to infinity,

therefore practicel domain is no more than D: 0< x < 12

6. Next weekend, Fred, Elena, Michael, and Diane visit another roller coaster.
Elena snaps a picture of part of the coaster from the park entrance. The diagram at
the right represents this part of the coaster.

Do you think quadratic, cubic, or quartic function would be the

best model for this part of the coaster? Clearly explain your choice.

This model must be Quartic function,

because it has 3 relative extrema.
The highest degree expected would be 4.
7. The part of the coaster captured by Elena on film is modeled by the function
below.

Graph this polynomial on the grid at the right.

8. Color the graph blue where the polynomial is increasing

and red where the polynomial is decreasing. 30
Identify increasing and decreasing intervals.
∞
Increasing intervals: (0, 1.5) and (4.3, 9.2)
Decreasing intervals: (1.5, 4.3) and (9.2, 10)
∞

9. Use your graphing calculator to approximate relative maxima and minima of this
function. Round your answers to three decimal places.

MAXIMA: (1.5, 30.5) and (9.2, 92.2)

MINIMUM: (4.3, 12.3)

10. Clearly describe the end behavior of this function and the reason for this
behavior.

It is a 4th degree function with a negative leading coefficient 

function will have the same behavior on both ends, Left end falls, right end rises

11. Suppose that this coaster is a 2-minute ride. Do you think that is a good
model for the height of the coaster throughout the ride? Clearly explain and
justify your response.

2 – minute ride is NOT reasonable, because we have already seen possible Max/ Min
points and after 2 minutes the ride would continue decreasing below the ground. It
needs to come back to the ground to h=0.

12. Elena wants to find the height of the coaster when t = 8 seconds, 9 seconds, 10
seconds, and 11 seconds. Use synthetic division to find the height of the coaster
at these times. Show all work.

SYNTHETIC DIVISION NEEDED FOR ALL 4

h(8) = 76.8 ft h(9) = 91.8 ft h(10)= 80 ft h(11) = 19.8 ft

Diane loves coasters that dip into tunnels during the ride. Her favorite coaster is
modeled by . This polynomial models the 8 seconds of the ride after the coaster
comes out of a loop.

13. Graph this polynomial on the grid at right.

MAX( 4.8, 50)

14. Why do you think this model’s practical domain

is only valid from t = 0 to t = 8?
8
After t = 8 sec., function keeps decreasing to -∞
which is illogical.
Can not go so deep below the ground.
 D: 0 < x < 8 makes sense. You end the ride on the ground.

Mathematical end behavior of this function does not make sense

practically.

15. At what time(s) is this coaster’s height 50 feet? Clearly explain how you found
your answer.

H = 50 is reached at about t = 4.8 sec. and t = 7.1 sec.

Diane wants to find out when the coaster dips below the ground.
16. Use the Rational Zeros Test to identify all possible rational zeros of .

According to the graph intervals

with real zeroes are

( 0,1) ; (3, 4) ; (8, 9)

17. Locate all real zeros of this function. Clearly interpret the real-world
meaning of these zeros.

REAL ZEROES are: h( ½) =0 , h(3) = 0 , h(8) = 0

The coaster went into the tunnel at ½ seconds and 8 seconds.

At 3 seconds it came out of the underground tunnel.

18. Are there any non-real zeros for this polynomial? If so, identify them. Clearly
explain your reasoning/ show work.

NO imaginary zeroes.
Since we found 3 real zeroes in #17, and it is a 3rd degree function,
therefore there are no more zeroes.

Pre-Calculus ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT GIFT #2

ROLLER COASTER POLYNOMIALS

INDIVIDUAL ROLLER COASTER DESIGN:

DUE on WEDNESDAY, October 26th, 2011

You decided to become a structural engineer who specializes in roller coaster

design.
Your job is to design your own roller coaster ride. To complete this task, please
follow these steps:

The amusement park you are designing for, gave you the following coaster
requirements:
- your coaster ride must have at least 3 relative maxima and/or minima
- the ride length must be at least 4 minutes
- the coaster ride starts at 250 feet
- the ride dives below the ground into a tunnel at least once

Use a clean sheet of copy paper to complete the following tasks to write your
report on you Roller Coaster Design. Label each part clearly. Your work MUST be
neat, organized and must appear professional.

1. Draw a rough sketch of your "roller coaster" ride on a coordinate plane.

Note: Be sure to illustrate your x-axis and y-axis scale to identify the length of
the ride and the height of the ride you are designing. Make sure your design meets
all the criteria listed above.
2. List All zeros or roots of your polynomial; be sure to include at least one of
each of the following on your design: one double root (multiplicity of two), at
least 2 real root, and imaginary roots.
It might be necessary to go back to your design and modify it according to these
root requirements.
3. Write the complete factored form of your roller coaster polynomial.
4. Find the equation in standard form that represents your roller coaster ride.
5. Perform long division and/or synthetic division to verify the correctness of
your equation.
6. describe the end behavior of your function and give a reason for this behavior.
7. Draw an accurate graph of your polynomial.
8. State the practical domain of your graph (that is, the actual ride).
9. State the practical range of your graph ( that is, the actual ride).
10. Color the graph blue where the polynomial is increasing and red where the
polynomial is decreasing and identify increasing, decreasing, and constant
intervals.