1) The position of an object to the north of a flagpole is given by x(t) = bt2 – c , where b and c are constants. a) What is v(t), the velocity of the object as a function of time?
b) What is a(t), the acceleration of the object as a function of time?
c) At some time t the object is located at the flagpole. What is the velocity of the
object at that instant?

a) The velocity of the object as a function of time, v(t) is 2·b·t

b) The acceleration of the function of time, a(t) is 2·b

c) The time at which the object is at the flagpole is t = √(c/b)

Explanation:

The function that gives the position of the object north of the flagpole, x(t) is presented as follows;

x(t) = b·t² - c (b and c are constants)

a) The velocity of the object as a function of time, v(t), is derived as follows

v(t) = x'(t) = d(b·t² - c)/dt = 2·b·t

The velocity of the object as a function of time, v(t) = 2·b·t

b) The acceleration of the function of time, a(t) = v'(t) = d(2·b·t)/dt = 2·b

c) The time at which the object is at the flagpole is given by the x-intercept of the function, where x(t) = 0, as follows;

At the x-intercept, we have, x(t) = 0 and x(t) = b·t² - c

∴ 0 = b·t² - c, which gives

b·t² = c

t² = c/b

t = ±√(c/b), we reject the negative value to get;

The time at which the object is at the flagpole, t = √(c/b).