Ana dives into a pool off of a springboard high dive. Her height (in meters above the water, x seconds after diving, is modeled by h (x) = - 5 (x+1) (x-3) How many seconds after diving will Ana hit the water?

She will hit the water after 3 seconds.

We first set the function equal to 0:

0=-5 (x+1) (x-3)

Using the zero product property, we know that either x+1=0 or x-3=0. Therefore our options are x=-1 or x=3. Since x represents time, - 1 makes no sense; therefore the answer is x=3.