text: anyone want to help me understand physics? a daredevil jumps a canyon 12 meters wide. to do so, he drives a car up a 15 degree incline. a) what minimum speed must he achieve to clear the canyon? b) if he jumps at this minimum speed, what will his speed be when he reaches the other side? i assume opposite side of canyon is level with the one where he starts and there is no air resistance.  a)  x is the speed.  horizontal component is x*cos(15) and vertical - x*sin(15).  the time it will take him to go 12 meters horisontally is 12/(x*cos(15))  the time to go up and down to same level is 2*x*sin(15)/9.8 you want the two to be equal, so you need to solve:   2*x*sin(15)/9.8 = 12/(x*cos(15))  x=square_root[ 6*9.8 / (sin(15)cos(15)) ]  b) his speed will be same as in a), with vector pointing 15 degres down.