George Measures the Force Exerted by a Certain Spring When $\begin{array}{llllll}\text { Stretched Distance (feet) } & 0.17 & 0.56 & 0.73 & 0.81 & 1.13\end{array}$

Short Answer

George measures the force exerted by a certain spring when it is stretched various distances beyond its natural length. The data he gathers is compiled in the following table. He wishes to describe the force as a function of the stretched distance, and decides to use a quadratic function model. After fitting a quadratic function to the data, he uses it to estimate the force when the spring is stretched 17 inches. What is his approximation (to three decimal places) of this force?
$\begin{array}{llllll}\text { Stretched Distance (feet) } & 0.17 & 0.56 & 0.73 & 0.81 & 1.13\end{array}$
$\begin{array}{llllll}\text { Force (pounds) } & 16.74 & 499.82 & 1,180.23 & 1,645.11 & 4,102.94\end{array}$