Some students and I in my AP C-level high school course are trying a
problem from the 1994 mechanics test. A ball, rolling along a level
surface, encounters an incline. In the first case, we have no trouble
calculating the velocity of the ball at the top of the incline. Then, the
question asks how fast the ball would be going if the incline was
frictionless. Would it be faster, slower, or the same speed as if it did
pure rolling up the incline in the first part of the problem? Thanks.