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This module is part of a collection of modules that were developed to support laboratory activities in a Precalculus for PreEngineers (MATH 1508) at the University of Texas at El Paso. Contained in this module of applications of quadratic equations in various fields of engineering and science. These include the motion of an object under constant acceleration, quantitative management, and break-even analysis.

## Introduction

Quadratic equations play an important role in the modeling of many physical situations. Finding the roots of quadratic equations is a necessary skill. Being able to interpret these roots is an important ability that is important in understanding physical problems. In this module, we will present a number of applications of quadratic equations in several fields of engineering.

## Determining the roots of quadratic equations

A quadratic equation has the following form

${\text{ax}}^{2}+\text{bx}+c=0$

Because a quadratic equation involves a polynomial of order 2, it will have two roots. In general, a quadratic equation will either have two roots that are both real or have two roots that are both complex. For the present module, we will restrict our attention to quadratic equations that have two real roots.

There are three methods that are effective in solving for the roots of a quadratic equation. They are:

• Solution by factoring
• Solution by completing the square
• Solution by the quadratic formula

The applications that follow will include examples of each of these three methods of solution.

## Motion of an object under uniform acceleration

We will begin our study of quadratic equations by considering an application that you will likely encounter later in physics and mechanical engineering classes. Let us consider an object that is subject to a uniform acceleration. By uniform, we mean an acceleration that is constant. Such an object might be an automobile, an aircraft, a rocket, etc. The motion of an object subjected to uniform acceleration can be expressed mathematically by the following equation.

$s\left(t\right)=\frac{1}{2}a{t}^{2}+{v}_{0}t+{s}_{0}$

where s ( t ) represents the position of the object as function of time t ,

a represents the constant acceleration of the object,

v 0 represents the value of the object’s velocity at time t = 0, and

s 0 represents the position of the object at time t = 0.

An equation of this sort is called an equation of motion . We will illustrate its use in the following exercise.

Example 1: For our first example, let us consider a dragster on a drag strip of length one-quarter mile. For time t<0, the dragster is at rest at the starting line. At time = 0, the driver depresses his gas pedal to produce a uniform acceleration of 50 m/s 2 . Under these conditions, how far will the dragster travel in 1 second?

Because the dragster travels in a horizontal direction, we will represent its distance from the starting point as a fuction of time as x ( t ). We also know that the value for the acceleration ( a ) is 30 m / s 2 . We can incorporate these changes in equation (1) to produce a new equation of motion for the dragster.

where we get a research paper on Nano chemistry....?
what are the products of Nano chemistry?
There are lots of products of nano chemistry... Like nano coatings.....carbon fiber.. And lots of others..
learn
Even nanotechnology is pretty much all about chemistry... Its the chemistry on quantum or atomic level
learn
da
no nanotechnology is also a part of physics and maths it requires angle formulas and some pressure regarding concepts
Bhagvanji
Preparation and Applications of Nanomaterial for Drug Delivery
revolt
da
Application of nanotechnology in medicine
what is variations in raman spectra for nanomaterials
I only see partial conversation and what's the question here!
what about nanotechnology for water purification
please someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think one can use nanoparticles, specially silver nanoparticles for water treatment.
Damian
yes that's correct
Professor
I think
Professor
Nasa has use it in the 60's, copper as water purification in the moon travel.
Alexandre
nanocopper obvius
Alexandre
what is the stm
is there industrial application of fullrenes. What is the method to prepare fullrene on large scale.?
Rafiq
industrial application...? mmm I think on the medical side as drug carrier, but you should go deeper on your research, I may be wrong
Damian
How we are making nano material?
what is a peer
What is meant by 'nano scale'?
What is STMs full form?
LITNING
scanning tunneling microscope
Sahil
how nano science is used for hydrophobicity
Santosh
Do u think that Graphene and Fullrene fiber can be used to make Air Plane body structure the lightest and strongest. Rafiq
Rafiq
what is differents between GO and RGO?
Mahi
what is simplest way to understand the applications of nano robots used to detect the cancer affected cell of human body.? How this robot is carried to required site of body cell.? what will be the carrier material and how can be detected that correct delivery of drug is done Rafiq
Rafiq
if virus is killing to make ARTIFICIAL DNA OF GRAPHENE FOR KILLED THE VIRUS .THIS IS OUR ASSUMPTION
Anam
analytical skills graphene is prepared to kill any type viruses .
Anam
Any one who tell me about Preparation and application of Nanomaterial for drug Delivery
Hafiz
what is Nano technology ?
write examples of Nano molecule?
Bob
The nanotechnology is as new science, to scale nanometric
brayan
nanotechnology is the study, desing, synthesis, manipulation and application of materials and functional systems through control of matter at nanoscale
Damian
Is there any normative that regulates the use of silver nanoparticles?
what king of growth are you checking .?
Renato
What fields keep nano created devices from performing or assimulating ? Magnetic fields ? Are do they assimilate ?
why we need to study biomolecules, molecular biology in nanotechnology?
?
Kyle
yes I'm doing my masters in nanotechnology, we are being studying all these domains as well..
why?
what school?
Kyle
biomolecules are e building blocks of every organics and inorganic materials.
Joe
Can someone give me problems that involes radical expressions like area,volume or motion of pendulum with solution