Question

The Yellowstone National Park sits at an elevation of 8,000 to 11,000 feet above sea level. During the month of June, the temperature at 8,000 feet above sea level was recorded as 650 Fahrenheit, and, at a distance of 10,500 feet feet above sea level, the temperature was recorded as 15⁰ Fahrenheit. For every additional 100 feet above sea level, the temperature decreases by tº Fahrenheit, where t is a constant. What is the value of t?​

Answer 1

Explanation:

To find the value of t, we can use the information given about the temperature at two different elevations and use the formula for a linear equation.

Let's assume that the temperature decreases by tº Fahrenheit for every additional 100 feet above sea level, where t is the constant we want to find.

Then, using the two points given:

- (8000, 65) where 65 is the temperature in Fahrenheit at 8000 feet above sea level

- (10,500, 15) where 15 is the temperature in Fahrenheit at 10,500 feet above sea level.

We can calculate the slope of the line connecting these two points:

slope = (15 - 65) / (10,500 - 8,000) = -25

The slope of the line represents the amount that the temperature decreases per unit increase in elevation. In this case, we've found that the temperature decreases by 25 Fahrenheit for each increase in elevation of 1000 feet.

To find the value of t, we need to express the slope in terms of the decrease in temperature per 100 feet of elevation. We can do this by dividing the slope by 10:

t = slope / 10 = -2.5

Therefore, the value of t is -2.5.