Thread: Ferrish Wheel Question

The height above the ground of one of the seats of a Ferris wheel, in metres, can be modelled by the function where is measured in seconds.

a) What is the maximum and minimum height reached by any seat?

My answer:
Sub in t = 90 and t = 270 to obtain the max and the min, 15m and 1m.

b) How long does it take for the seat on this ride to rotate back to its starting point?

How exactly am I supposed to figure this out? I know I'm supposed to isolate for , but I can only do that if I have a value for .

Any help would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by RogueDemon

The height above the ground of one of the seats of a Ferris wheel, in metres, can be modelled by the function where is measured in seconds.

a) What is the maximum and minimum height reached by any seat?

My answer:
Sub in t = 90 and t = 270 to obtain the max and the min, 15m and 1m.

Mr F says: Correct. But easier to just say that the min and max value of sin is +1 and -1 .....

b) How long does it take for the seat on this ride to rotate back to its starting point?

How exactly am I supposed to figure this out? I know I'm supposed to isolate for , but I can only do that if I have a value for .

Any help would be appreciated.

b) The required time is the period ....

Would the period be 180 degrees?

Originally Posted by RogueDemon

Would the period be 180 degrees?

No, the period is a time and will be in seconds and is equal to the time it takes to rotate once

Originally Posted by RogueDemon

Would the period be 180 degrees?

No. For starters, a modelling problem like this one always assumes that the argumne tof the trig function is measured in radians not degrees. Also, your classnotes or textbook should have a formula for the period of things like sin(kt) ..... (The formula is period = 2pi/k).