Quadratic Tic-Tac-Toe
Real World Analysis
Using Quadratics in the World of Sports: Playing Volleyball
Volleyball is a very fun sport to play. It is a team sport composed of six players with six different roles. There is a receiver, hitter, setter, blocker, libero. I, personally, play setter back when I was part of a varsity team in the Philippines. I was the one who usually sets the ball in play so that my hitters would be able to hit it and hopefully make a point. It sounds simple, but believe me, it is harder than it sounds. You must be able to set the ball at the right height, in the right spot, at the right time. I don't usually think of math when doing these types of things, but who knows, I might have been doing it subconsciously.
Setting a Quadratic
In this picture, you may observe that the overall action of setting a ball is similar to drawing a parabola that goes down.
Me, Actually Setting a Ball
Yours truly setting the ball really high in order for my team mate to get ready to hit it.
The Math in Volleball
We can now visualize how setting looks very much similar to a quadratic. With the ball at its highest point being the vertex, below that, being the player about to hit can represent the axis of symmetry. The net is where you can find the roots. And the whole parabola being a maximum value since we assume the "a" value is greater than 0
Real World Problem
The Immaculate Conception Volleyball Team is in a championship match against a school named PCC using a standard volleyball court whose length is 60 feet long. Immaculate Conception is one service ace away from winning 1st place. The server notices a tall player from the other team with a vertical leap that exceeds one foot from the 7 feet tall net. The server usually serves near the service line wherein the ball reaches a maximum height of 9 feet, the server wants to make a more powerful serve by taking a few steps back from the service line to generate greater force. If the server steps back 5 feet from the service line to make the more forceful service, will her serve still be able to clear the reach of the tall defensive player?