Question

A reservoir contained 200 gallons of water. Jake drained the reservoir at a constant rate of 25 gallons per hour.

Which equation represents this situation if x is the number of hours the reservoir was draining and y is the number of gallons of water in the
reservoir?

Answer 1

200 - ( x * 25 ) = y

Explanation:

200 is the original amount of gallons of water the reservoir contained before it started to be drained.

The ' - ' negative symbol is there because the reservoir is losing gallons of water when it is being drained.

x represents the amount of hours it is being drained for.

25 is the amount of gallons the reservoir is losing per hour assuming it is being drained.

The ' * ' multiplication sign is there because ' x ' represents the amount of hours the reservoir could be being drained for, and 25 represents how many gallons of water the reservoir loses for every 1 hour it is being drained.

y is the number of gallons left in the reservoir after being drained for 'x' amount of hours.