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Launching a projectile to cover maximal area

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2019

Robert Kantrowitz
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Hamilton College, 198 College Hill Road, Clinton, NY 13323, USA e-mail: rkantrow@hamilton.edu
Michael M. Neumann
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA e-mail: neumann@math.msstate.edu

Extract

The launch and subsequent motion of a projectile provide a context for several quantities that yearn to be optimised. Most notable is the horizontal range of the projectile, a problem dating back to Galileo and still studied in modern times; see, for example [1], [2], [3], [4]. In a different direction, the articles [5] and [6] provide a solution to the problem of finding the angle of launch that results in the trajectory of longest arc length.

Type
Articles
Copyright
© Mathematical Association 2019 

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