Question

W = -0.5m + 16Henry's water bottle is leaking at a constant rate. The amount of water, W in ounces, that is left in the water bottle after leaking for m minutes is given by the equation above. What does the −0.5 mean in the equation?The water bottle loses 2 ounces of water per minute

The water bottle loses 0.5 an ounce of water per minute
The water bottle has 0.5 an ounce of water in it at the start
0.5 of the water has leaked from the water bottls in one minute

Answer 1

• The water bottle loses 0.5 an ounce of water per minute

Explanation:

The definition of the variables tells you that m stands for minutes and that W stands for the water remaining in the bottle. So, the -0.5m in the equation has the effect of reducing the remaining water by 0.5 each time m increases by 1. That is, there are 0.5 fewer ounces of water after each additional minute: the bottle loses 0.5 ounces per minute.