Question

Imagine this:

The altitude of an airplane coming in for a landing is represented by the equation shown below, where y represents the altitude, in feet, of the
airplane and x represents the number of minutes the plane has been descending:
| = -5x + 150
Part C:
Which ordered pair (from the table in part A) represents the initial value? What does the initial value represent in this problem? (1-2 sentences)
Part D:
What is the rate of change in this equation? What does the rate of change represent in this problem? (1-2 sentences)

Answer 1

Part C: The ordered pair (0, 150) represents the initial value in the table. The initial value represents the altitude of the airplane when it started descending, i.e., the altitude of the airplane before it began its descent.

Part D: The rate of change in this equation is -5, which is the coefficient of x. The rate of change represents the decrease in altitude, in feet, per minute as the airplane descends for a landing. In other words, the altitude decreases by 5 feet for every minute that the airplane descends.