The height of a baseball hit from a bat is modeled by a quadratic function of time, h(t). What does the second coordinate of the vertex of the quadratic function represent?

The vertex of h(t) is an ordered pair (t, h), where the first coordinate gives the time and the second gives the baseball’s height at that time. A baseball’s height follows a downward-opening parabola, so the vertex represents its highest point. Therefore, the second coordinate is the maximum height of the baseball, choice D.

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