Question

A weather station on the top of a mountain reports that the temperature is currently 0 degrees Celsius and has been falling at a constant rate of -3 degrees Celsius per hour. What was the temperature 1 hour ago?

Answer 1

The temperature of the weather station was 3 degrees Celcius an hour earlier.

Explanation:

We can say that the weather an hour ago should be represented with the variable - x.

From the problem, we know that the temperature of the station falls at a rate of -3 degrees per hour. This means that for every hour, the temperature of the place will go down by about 3 degrees Celsius.

If the temperature of the weather station is currently 0 degrees Celsius, to find its temperature an hour earlier, it means that we will need to add 3 degrees to its current temperature, because that is what must have lost in one hour.

i.e x = 0 + 3 = 3 degrees Celcius.

This means that the temperature of the weather station was 3 degrees Celcius an hour earlier.