Application of Quadratic Functions

Finding a Minimum or Maximum:

Finding anything else:

A. The value of a share of R. P. Mugs can be represented by V ( x)  x 2  6 x  13, where x is the number of
months after January 2001. What is the lowest value V(x) will reach and when will this occur?

B. A farmer decides to enclose a rectangular garden, using the side of a barn as one side of the rectangle. What
is the maximum area that the farmer can enclose with 40 feet of fence? What dimensions yield that
maximum area?

C. An envelope is 4 cm longer than it is wide. The area is 96 cm2. Find the length & width.

D. Three consecutive even integers are such that the square of the third is 76 more than the square of the
second. Find the three integers.
Practice

1. Researchers conducted an experiment to determine temperatures at which people feel comfortable. The percent y of test subjects
who felt comfortable at temperature x (in degrees Fahrenheit) can be modeled by: y  3.678x 2  527.3x  18,807 . What
temperature made the greatest percent of test subjects comfortable? What % was that?

2. You have made a rectangular stained glass window that is 2 feet by 4 feet. You have 7 square feet of clear glass to create a border
of uniform width around the window. What should the width of the border be?

3. You maintain a music-oriented web site that allows subscribing customers to download audio and video clips of their favorite
bands. When the subscription price is $16 per year, you get 30,000 subscribers. For each $1 increase in price, you expect to lose
1000 subscribers. How much should you charge to maximize your annual revenue? What is your maximum revenue?

Using the real-life model of an object being dropped, h  16t  h0 , where t is the time and h0 is the initial height, answer the
2
4.
following. A stunt man working on the set of a movie is to fall out of a window 100 feet above the ground. For the stunt man’s
safety, an air cushion 26 feet wide by 30 feet long by 9 feet high is positioned on the ground below the window.
a. For how many seconds will the stunt man fall before he reaches the cushion?
b. A movie camera operating at a speed of 24 frames per second records the stunt man’s fall. How many frames of film
show the stunt man falling?