Roller Coaster Pre-Assessment
F.IF.4, F.IF.6
Name ______________________________
Date ___________________
Roller coasters are exciting and fun experiences. What parts of the experience are most exciting?
Where do these experiences occur during the ride? Why are these parts of the ride the most exciting?
Use the following picture of a portion of a roller coaster to describe where the interesting/exciting
parts of the ride occur in relationship to the x and y axes.
Feet
by 15
Feet by 20
@2001 Jeff Rogers www.CoasterGallery.com
1. What ordered pair best approximates the highest point on the ride? How high does the ride go? How far into the ride
is the highest point?
2. What interval on the x-axis indicates the ride is going up?
3. What interval on the x-axis indicates the ride is going down?
4. If it were possible for a single car to roll down the track from the highest point of the ride, would it go faster to the right
or to the left? Justify your answer using intervals of the x and y axes.
5. What type of function(s) might model the track of the roller coaster?
6. Create a graph which shows total distance traveled versus time on the ride.
Hint: Your distance is increasing over the entire ride.
7. Create a verbal description of your total distance traveled if you are sitting in a car on the roller coaster; include an
estimated time for the length of this portion of the ride.