This is a picture of the Pontiac Solstice. It is a very nice car. You can get it for under $20,000. Using the java applet, find the volume of the car. Each pixel is .535 inches, and assume the car is 73.4 inches wide. You may ignore the graphing ability of this webpage and simply use the applet to find points for your curve or curves. In my solution I used the applet to list points for three different curves and I use TI-interactive on the school computer to find my curves. A graphing calculator will work also.x.
You can click on the photograph above to find the coordinates of the point at which you clicked. You can fine tune the selected point by clicking at the arrows at the four sides of the photograph. Each click on an arrow moves the cursors one pixel in the direction indicated by the arrow. You will probably want to ignore the windshield, because that makes the problem easier.
To use this page's graphing ability, you must enter three items in the form below to describe the curve formed by the hose. The first two items specify the domain of the function f(x) and, thus, the part of the photograph above containing the curve formed by the squirting water. The third item is an algebraic expression -- like x^3 - x + 12, for example -- that defines the function f(x) that describes the shape of the curve.
After you have entered the three items in the form below, click the "Try it!!" button to see the curve superimposed on the photograph.
After you have found a function that you are reasonably happy with that describes the curve formed by the squirting water, discuss why it does not do as good a job as you might have hoped.