Determine the tomato's average velocity over the interval [a, a + h].
By Michael Henderson •
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"A tomato is thrown downward from the top of a building. After t seconds, the tomato's height (in feet above the ground) is given by the formula:"$$ s(t) = -16t^2 - 10t + 190 $$How does one determine the average velocity of the tomato over the interval [a, a + h]. Simplify the answer
1 Answer
$\begingroup$Well done, you have the right answer! In general for a displacement function $s(t)$, the average velocity over any time interval $[t_1,t_2]$ is given by $$\frac{s(t_2)-s(t_1)}{t_2 - t_1}.$$
Thus for your problem, you substitute $t_1 = a$ and $t_2 = a+h$ and simplify the expression via basic algebra, as you have done.
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