Rectilinear motion problems deal with an object that moves laterally, or horizontally. The object can be moving along the ground or at any other height, as long as it’s moving horizontally. We call this type of motion “rectilinear” motion. Problems like these require you to know the relationship between position x(t), velocity v(t), and acceleration a(t). The important thing to know is that the derivative of position is velocity, and the derivative of velocity is acceleration.
Read MoreGiven a position function r(t) that models the position of an object over time, velocity v(t) is the derivative of position, and acceleration a(t) is the derivative of velocity, which means that acceleration is also the second derivative of position. Which means we can integrate acceleration to find velocity, and integrate velocity to find position.
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