Question

Poynter’s Pet Palace has an 85-gallon fish tank. When it needs to be cleaned, it can be drained at a rate of 4 gallons per minute. If the tank was full, write an equation that represents this situation. How many gallons would be in the tank after 15 minutes?

a. Gallons in the tank = 85 - 4 * 15
b. Gallons in the tank = 85 + 4 * 15
c. Gallons in the tank = 85 / 4 * 15
d. Gallons in the tank = 85 * 4 * 15

Answer 1

a. Gallons in the tank = 85 - 4 * 15. The equation that represents the situation is 85 - 4 * 15. After 15 minutes, there would be 25 gallons in the tank.

Step-by-step explanation:

To write an equation that represents the situation, we need to start with the initial number of gallons in the tank and subtract the amount drained per minute multiplied by the number of minutes. Since the tank was full initially, the equation is: Gallons in the tank = 85 - 4 * 15.

To find the number of gallons in the tank after 15 minutes, we can solve the equation: Gallons in the tank = 85 - 4 * 15 = 85 - 60 = 25 gallons.