You kick a ball over a flat field. Taking into account gravity, but disregarding everything else like wind, friction, bounces, etc., etc., at what angle should you kick it so the ball lands the farthest away from you? And at what angle should you kick it so the ball makes the longest trajectory before landing?

(In reply to Where am I wrong? by Larry)

Larry wrote:
(1) How can the max x distance and the trajectory be the same?     (they can't)
Larry, I guess the problem is that you integrate the ds^2 thing.  It has the dy^2 part in it, which would be zero after the integration, hence only the 45° dx^2 result. ( No warranty is given on this comment)
(2) Charlie is never wrong,
Hmm, Larry,  I guess you are in big trouble.

Posted by Hugo on 2005-03-19 23:23:05