There are many formulas used in physics that can be thought of as radical functions. In this module you will look at radical functions related to the motion of objects. The skid marks left by a vehicle can be used to determine the speed of the vehicle. An object dropped or thrown also has accelerated motion, and the speed or time of an object can be determined using a radical function.

 

In this module you will investigate the following question:

• How are radical functions graphed and analyzed to help understand the motion of objects?

To investigate the module question, you will focus on the lessons and questions in the table.

Lesson	Topic	Lesson Questions
1	Radical Functions and Transformations	How can radical functions be graphed?
		How are graphs of radical functions used to analyze real-life situations?
2	Square Root of a Function	How does determining the square root of a given function change the graph?
3	Solving Radical Equations Graphically	How can you determine the solution to a radical equation using graphs?

 

The Module 2 Project: Pendulums will focus on the motion of pendulums and how that motion can be described using radical functions.

 

Once you have a function to describe the period of a pendulum, you will apply the function to the idea of a person swinging back and forth at the end of a bungee cord at the completion of a bungee jump.

 

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