The Segerstrom High School baseball team uses a baseball throwing machine to help train its players to catch high pop-ups. It throws the baseball straight up with an initial velocity of 48 ft/sec from a height of 3.5 ft. The height of the baseball is given by h (t ) = −16t 2 + 48t + 3.5 , where h is measured in feet and t is measured in seconds.
(a) How long does it take for the ball to reach its maximum height?
(b) What is the maximum height of the ball?
(c) How long is the ball in the air total?