Question

A hippopotamus can stay under water for 15 minutes. A sea cow can stay under water y minutes.This is 11 minutes longer than one-third the time a hippopotamus can.Write an equation and solve to determine how long the sea cow can stay under water.

Answer 1

The sea cow can stay under water for 16 minutes.

Explanation:

A hippopotamus can stay under water for 15 minutes.

A sea cow can stay under water
`y` minutes and this is 11 minutes longer than one-third the time a hippopotamus can.

So, "11 minutes longer than one-third the time a hippopotamus can" means:
`[(1)/(3)(15)+11] minutes`

Thus, the equation will be:
`y= (1)/(3)(15)+11`

Now, solving the above equation, we will get.........

`y= (1)/(3)(15)+11 \\ \\ y=5+11= 16`

So, the sea cow can stay under water for 16 minutes.