A road is made in such a way that the center of the road is higher off the ground than the sides of the road, in order to allow rainwater to drain. A cross-section of the road can be represented on a graph using the function f of x is equal to negative 1 two hundredth open paren x minus 16 close paren open paren x plus 16 close paren , where x represents the distance from the center of the road, in feet. Rounded to the nearest tenth, what is the maximum height of the road, in feet?
The function is a downward-opening parabola, so its maximum occurs halfway between its zeros, x = −16 and x = 16. That is at x = 0, the center of the road. Substituting gives f(0) = −(1/200)(−16)(16) = 256/200 = 1.28 feet, which rounds to 1.3 feet. The correct choice is 1.3.
AI-written and checked against the verified answer.