Modeling Basketball Free Throws

Abstract

This paper presents a mathematical model for basketball free throws. It is intended to be a supplement to an existing calculus course and could easily be used as a basis for a calculus project. Students will learn how to apply calculus to model an interesting real-world problem, from problem identification all the way through to interpretation and verification. Along the way we will introduce topics such as optimization (univariate and multiobjective), numerical methods, and differential equations.