SwingLab

Tocompletethefollowingactivity,youwillneedaccesstothemoviefileoftheswingerandthedata
pointsfortheSwingLab.ThisdataisavailableinanExcelfileoraTICalculatorprogram.Apartialtable
ofdataisprovidedattheendofthishandout.
PreActivity:Watchthevideooftheswinger.Asyouwatchthevideo,thinkaboutbreakingupher
motionintoherverticalpositionandhorizontalpositionovertime.Forexample,thinkabouthowhigh
sheswingsorhowfarleftorrightsheisfromthecenterofherswing.Thedistancebetweenthetop
ofthetwoorangeconesisapproximately72inches.Thinkabouthowlongittakesfortheswingerto
makeonecompleteswing(fromfarlefttofarrightbacktofarleftagain).
PartI:ModelingtheVerticalPositionoftheSwinger
ThegoalforPartIofthelessonisforyoutocreateamathematicalmodelthatgivestheswingers
verticalpositionasafunctionoftime.
Letsconsiderthegraphbelow.Alongthehorizontalaxiswehavetimeinsecondsandalongthevertical
axiswehavetheverticalpositionoftheswinger,i.e.herheightoffthegroundmeasuredininches.

Usingyourknowledgeoftrigonometry,thegraphandadatatableofthepoints,createamodelofthe
form y(t)=Pcos(Q(t+R))+S or y(t)=Psin(Q(t+R))+S fortheverticalpositionfortheswingerasafunction
oftime(t)inseconds.
CarefullyexplainhowyouarriveateachofthevaluesfortheconstantsP,Q,RandS.
Usingtechnology,createagraphofthegivendataalongwithagraphofyourmodel.Discussthe
accuracyofyourmodel.Includeinformationaboutthephysicalproblemasyoudiscusstheaccuracyof
yourmodel.
PartII:ModelingtheHorizontalPositionoftheSwinger
ThegoalforPartIIofthelessonisforyoutocreateamathematicalmodelthatgivestheswingers
horizontalpositionasafunctionoftime.
Letsconsiderthegraphbelow.Alongthehorizontalaxiswehavetimeinsecondsandalongthevertical
axiswehavethehorizontalpositionoftheswinger.Ifweassumethatthehorizontalpositionofthe
swingeriszerowhentheswingisatrest,thenthevariableontheverticalaxisisherhorizontalposition
fromthatcenterpoint.Herhorizontalpositionispositivewhensheistotherightofthatcenterpoint
andnegativewhensheistotheleftofthatcenterpoint.

Usingyourknowledgeoftrigonometry,thegraphandadatatableofthepoints,createamodelofthe
form y(t)=Pcos(Q(t+R))+S or y(t)=Psin(Q(t+R))+S forthehorizontalpositionfortheswingerasa
functionoftime(t)inseconds.
CarefullyexplainhowyouarriveateachofthevaluesfortheconstantsP,Q,RandS.
Usingtechnology,createagraphofthegivendataalongwithagraphofyourmodel.Discussthe
accuracyofyourmodel.Includeinformationaboutthephysicalproblemasyoudiscusstheaccuracyof
yourmodel.
ComparetheperiodsofthemodelsyoufoundinPartsIandII.Explainwhytheperiodsofthe
trigonometricmodelsmakesenseinthecontextoftheproblem.

PartIII:ModelingtheMotionoftheSwingerParametrically
ThegoalforPartIIIofthelessonisforyoutocreateaparametricmodelthatgivestheswingersmotion
overtime.YouwillusetheworkyoudidinPartsIandII.
UsingaTICalculatororsomeotherparametricequationgraphingtool,enterthehorizontalposition
modelintothex(t)functionandtheverticalpositionintothey(t).Carefullychooseanappropriate
windowforthegraphoftheswingersmotionandcreateagraphoftheswingersmotion.
Discusstheaccuracyofyourparametricmodel.

SwingLabDataTable
Apartialtablethatincludesthetime(inseconds)andthehorizontalandverticalpositions(ininches)of
theswingerisgivenbelow.
Time
(sec)
Horizontal
Position(in)
Vertical
Position(in)
0.0 65.0 108.8
0.2 63.6 100.4
0.4 54.3 75.0
0.6 35.7 51.1
0.8 1.3 37.7
1.0 38.1 53.9
1.2 58.3 84.4
1.4 63.9 107.6
1.6 65.6 115.1
1.8 64.6 106.7
2.0 56.9 79.5
2.2 33.2 47.4
2.4 8.5 37.7
2.6 38.3 53.5
2.8 59 85.4
3.0 65.0 107.4
3.2 65.8 114
3.4 63.4 99.9
3.6 55.2 77.6
3.8 30.1 46.9
4.0 10.2 38.7
4.2 44.9 60.3
4.4 60.4 92.6
4.6 64.9 111.6
4.8 65.8 118.4
5.0 64.4 105.1
5.2 54.3 75.3
5.4 27.4 44.3
5.6 6.9 38
5.8 43.5 59.3
6.0 60.1 90.5
6.2 64.8 109.3
6.4 65.3 114
6.6 63.4 101.3