High Dive Unit Problem:

Can We Save Andre?

Christine Tsang

4/11/08

Block Iota
 Christine Tsang
Block Iota

High Dive Unit Problem: Can We Save Andre?

1.) Problem Statement

One day the CAT Stellar family decided to go to Santa Cruz

Beach Boardwalk as the very last CAT outing before we graduate. The

Ferris Wheel ride was a major ride on the day we went. The owner of

the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk knew that students from CAT were

taking a field trip, so he decided to pose a math problem. He

wondered if the students of CAT knew how to solve that dealt with

taking a high dive. Three gymnast volunteered to take apart of the

math problem. Their plan is to attach a platform and Diver 1 will be

hanging upside down while Diver 2 and 3 holds him. The Ferris Wheel

will be turning and as Diver 2 and 3 let go of Diver 1 he is suppose to

fall into a cart filled with water that is 8 ft above the ground.

Here are the things that the owner provided (Refer to Diagram #1: The

Scenario):

- The Ferris Wheel has a radius of 50 ft

- The center of the ferris wheel off the ground is 65 ft

- The ferris wheel turns at a constant speed making a complete

turn ever 40 sec

- The ferris wheel turns counter clock wise

- The cart starts 240 ft to the left of the center of the ferris wheel
 - The cart travels at a constant speed of 15ft/sec.

- When the cart starts moving, the diver’s platform is at the 3 o’

clock position.

- The water level in the cart is 8 ft. above the ground

The mission of the problem is to find out how long Diver 1 should be on

the ferris wheel before he should take the dive, so he would land into

the pool of water of the moving cart.

My Plan:

- I will first find the falling time equation and set that equal

to the equation of the distance where the diver will land at

any given time.

- I will do this to find the time it takes for the cart to meet the

diver at the specific point. This should be found in

classworks 3.6 & 3.7: Where’s That Pesky Pool?

- I will then use the graphing calculator to find the intersection

point of the two equations, (if this doesn't work then I'll use

the guess and check method by creating a table. I will plug

in numbers randomly into the variable to find the right

answer).

- The math concepts that I will use to solve this problem are

square root, multiplication, division, addition, sin, and

cosine.

- I will have to follow the PEMDAS rule Ih is the order of

 operations in order to solve this problem correctly.

- I will use the equation to figure out the time that the diver

would be on the wheel and when he should dive.

2.) Work

I solved this problem by using the equation: -240 + 15(W+ √ 57

+ 50 sin(9W)/16) = 50cos(9W). I used this equation because the

variable W is what I need to solve. The variable W helps to find the

wait time of Diver 2 and 3 before they let Diver 1 go. In the equation

each of the numbers/equations represents a measurement for this

situation:

− -240 is how far the cart is away from the center of the ferris

wheel to the left.

− 15 is the speed of the cart in ft/sec.

− W is the time the diver is on the wheel, which is also how long

Diver 2 and 3 will wait before they let Diver 1 go.

− √57 +50sin(9W)/16 is how you calculate the falling time.

− 50cos(9W) is used to calculate the distance of where he falls

from any given time.

− 50 is the radius of the ferris wheel.

 − 9 is the angular speed of the ferris wheel.

− 16 is half of gravity. 32 ft/sec is the instantaneous speed of

gravity, but for this problem we need to use the average speed.

Average speed is used to figure out the average of how fast an

object travels. Average speed is (initial speed + the final speed)

/ 2. 16 derives from the (initial speed of 0 + the final speed of

32)/ 2 and that equals 16.

0I began solving this problem by typing the two equations into the

graphing calculator. I did this to find the intersection point of the two

equations. I got an intersection point, but it wasn't the correct answer

so I had a change of plans. I began by making a guess and check table

and began with the number 12.77 (because it was the x-value of the

intersection point according to the graphing calculator) and substituted

it for W. From there I continued to lower my guess for W until I got to

12.283 (Refer to Guess and Check Chart on Work(Continued) Page).

This gave me the closest value of the diver diving into the cart of

water. My guess and check table functions by guessing the value for W

and then plugging the value into the both the equation -240 + 15(W+

√ 57 + 50 sin(9W)/16) and 50cos(9W). Then I confirmed if the answers

to both equations were equal. For example, when I plugged in 12.283

for W, -240 + 15(W+ √ 57 + 50 sin(9W)/16) = -17.5456043 and

50cos(9W) = -17.548781, they were close results. When solving this

equation I followed the PEMDAS rule, which is the order of operations.

If I didn't follow the rule of PEMDAS then I would've done the problem

completely wrong. The rule of PEMDAS is Parenthesis, Exponents,

Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction.

Trigonometry relates to this unit problem because we have to use

cosine and sine to solve this problem. We have to use cosine and sine

because the length of where the cart travels is calculated by cosine

and the falling height is calculated by sine. For this scenario, sine is

present when we calculate the distance of where the diver will fall and

cosine is present when we calculate the distance of where the cart will

be after the number of seconds. According to triangles, cosine and

sine are used. Cosine is used to find the adjacent when you have the

hypotenuse and an angle of a triangle (Refer to Diagram # 2: Sine &

Cosine). Sine is used to find the opposite when you have the

hypotenuse and an angle of a triangle (Refer to Diagram # 2: Sine &

Cosine). Both the sine and cosine functions are used to find the

missing side of a triangle when a side and an angle are given.

Triangles and circles are related because you can use the cosine and

sine functions to calculate the width or height of a triangle drawn in a

circle. For example (Refer to Diagram #3: Triangles & Circles), if you

had a right angle triangle with a hypotenuse (connects the midpoint of

the circle to the border of the circle) of 1 un. inside a circle with a

radius of 1 un. and the adjacent leg was unknown you would be able to

find the length of the adjacent leg using cosine. You would use cosine
because you know an angle (90 degrees) and you know the length of

the hypotenuse. When you have an angle and the length of a side of

the triangle you are able to find another side.

The unit circle is a circle that has a radius of one unit. The unit

circle diagram relates to trigonometry because according to the

diagram you are able to use the provided coordinates and degrees to

graph the sine and cosine functions (Refer to Diagram #3: The Unit

Circle). For graphing cosine you take the degree labeled on the unit

circle and the x-coordinate from the unit circle diagram that

corresponds to the degree. The degree is the x-coordinate you will use

to graph the cosine function and the x-coordinate from the unit circle

will be the y-coordinate when you graph the cosine function. Graphing

the sine function is similar to graphing the cosine function. Instead of

taking the x-coordinate, you take the y-coordinate from the unit circle

diagram. This will be the y-coordinate of the point you’ll graph for the

sine function. (Refer to both Diagram #3: The Unit Circle and Diagram

#4: Graphing Sine & Cosine from "The Unit Circle"). Your x-coordinate

for graphing the sine function will be the degree that corresponds to

the chosen y-coordinate. Examples that cosine and sine are modeled

are the flow of water on the shore, a spinning fan and a rollercoaster

because all of these scenarios have a dropping and rising effect. The

ferris wheel requires periodicity because every turn of the wheel is

periodic. The cart requires trigonometry because the cosine can be

 used to find the length that it travels along the x-axis.

Work (Continued)

Guess for the variable W Plug W into -240 + Plug W into Equal to

to find the wait time of 15(W+ √ 57 + 50 50cos(9W) each

Divers on ferris wheel sin(9W)/16) other Yes

before Diver 1 dives or No?

-240 + 15(12.6 + √ 57 50cos(9(12.77) No

12.77 sec. + 50 sin(9(12.77))/16) )=

= -9.969919666 -12.94427289

-240 + 15(12.6 + √ 57 50cos(9(12.6)) No

12.6 sec. + 50 sin(9(12.6))/16) =

= -19.20158516 -47.7272847
-240 + 15(12.3+ √ 57 50cos(9(12.3)) No

12.3 sec. + 50 sin(9(12.3))/16) =

= -37.46537597 -36.77956741

-240 + 15(12.6 + √ 57 50cos(9(12.28) No

12.28 sec. + 50 sin(9(12.28))/16) )=

= - 35.17139 -42.249

-240 + 15(12.6 + √ 57 50cos(9(12.28 Yes, very

12.283 sec. + 50 3)) = close

sin(9(12.283))/16) = -17.548781
 -17.5456043

3.) Answer

The solution that I came up with is 12.283 seconds as the time

that the diver should wait on the ferris wheel until he should take the

dive. I know that this answer is right because I used guess and check

by plugging in numbers for the variable W. My results from

substituting W with 12.283 were -240 + 15(12.6 + √ 57 + 50

sin(9(12.283))/16) = -17.5456043 and 50cos(9(12.283)) =

-17.548781. These results were the closest numbers that equaled

each other compared to my other results. I plugged in several results

for W and the closest number I got was 12.283 seconds. The result of

-17.55 ft is the distance where the pool of water will be on the x-axis

where the diver will dive into the pool of water.

4.) Reflection

In the beginning I wasn’t sure on how to solve the problem. Then

I referred to the classwork 3.6 & 3.7: Where’s that Pesky Pool? From

the classwork I was able to get the equation that was needed to solve

this problem. I solved this problem by first entering the two equations,

-240 + 15(W + √ 57 + 50 sin(9W)/16) and 50cos(9W), into the

graphing calculator. By graphing the two equations I was able to find

an intersection point close to the right answer. I checked in with Ms.

Farrell to see if the intersection point on the graphing calculator was

the answer, but it wasn’t. I also received help from other students that

checked my answer, but I was way off. I ended up not relying on the

graphing calculator to find the real answer. I tried several values for W

that was close to the result from the graphing calculator. I tried values

that ranged from 12.77 to 12.283. In the end I was able to find the

closest value that equaled each other when I plugged in 12.283 for W.

When I first started using the guess and check method, I didn’t change

the mode to degree, so the calculator was on radian the whole time. I

realized this after I’ve plugged in a few values for W. So I had to

restart solving this problem.

A change for this problem would be changing how fast the cart

travels. So instead of traveling 15ft/sec, the cart could travel faster or

slower. If the speed of the cart was faster than 15ft/sec then it would

affect my answer by decreasing the time it takes for the diver to be on

the wheel. If the speed of the cart was slower than 15 ft/sec then it

would affect my answering by increasing the time it takes for the diver

on the ferris wheel. Another is changing the distance form where the

cart starts. So instead of the cart starting at 240 feet to the left of the

center of the ferris wheel the cart can start at a distance closer or

farther to the ferris wheel. If the distance is closer than it would

change my answer by decreasing the time the diver would be on the

ferris wheel. If the distance is farther than it would change my answer

by increasing the time the diver would be on the ferris wheel.

Two other ways that the math could be used to solve real world

problems are figuring out the falling time of a ball and figuring out the

height of a rollercoaster. Figuring out the falling time of a ball deals

with the free fall time equation, which is

√ h/16. You would plug in the height of where the dropping source is to

the ground into the variable h. You can figure out the height of a wave

shaped rollercoaster by using the sine function because the sine

function is used to solve the opposite side, the vertical distance of a

triangle when you have a degree and a side.