Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

M2 Collisions

Parts a) and b) were really easy.
However, I cannot get my head around part c) for some reason.

Any help would be appreciated.

Screenshot_2.png34.7KB

Screenshot_1.png17.7KB

Reply 1

math42

Original post by edothero

Parts a) and b) were really easy.
However, I cannot get my head around part c) for some reason.

Any help would be appreciated.

At first glance I feel like a geometric series infinite sum could be involved
I'll try the question and see if I'm wrong
edit: oops I see that was your second picture sorry hang on

It should be useful to consider the equation v^2 = u^2 + 2as to figure out why the distances progress as they do. I assume this problem is confusing you on that level rather than the actual working out of the geometric sum from the common ratio 0.7^2.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 2

math42

Original post by edothero

...

Quoting you again in case you only saw my above post in its useless unedited state, apologies if you hadn't looked yet.

Reply 3

edothero

Original post by 1 8 13 20 42

It should be useful to consider the equation v^2 = u^2 + 2as to figure out why the distances progress as they do. I assume this problem is confusing you on that level rather than the actual working out of the geometric sum from the common ratio 0.7^2.

No worries, I was afk anyway :smile:

Yeah it makes sense, the geometric series bit caught me by surprise, having not done it for a good year or two; it was the last thing I would've thought of.

Thanks for the help :biggrin:

Reply 4

math42

Original post by edothero

No worries, I was afk anyway :smile:

Yeah it makes sense, the geometric series bit caught me by surprise, having not done it for a good year or two; it was the last thing I would've thought of.

Thanks for the help :biggrin:

Geometric progressions are important to keep in your arsenal as they have a fair few applications; sadly in A level they aren't generally seen outside of AS Core and are easily forgettable. I believe I've seen this bouncing ball kind of thing before with a similar idea; it's a good "theme" to remember. No problem. :smile: