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The price of Stock A at 9 A.M. was $13.22. Since then, the price has been increasing at the rate of $.09 each hour. At noon the price of Stock B was $13.7. It begins to decrease at the rate of $.12 each hour. If the two rates continue, in how many hours will the prices of the two stocks be the same?

User Gev
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

To find when the prices of Stock A and Stock B will be the same, equations representing their price changes are set equal to each other and solved for time, resulting in approximately 2.29 hours after noon, or around 2:17 P.M.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine how many hours will pass before the prices of Stock A and Stock B are the same given their respective rates of increase and decrease, let us set up an equation to represent each stock's price over time.

Let x be the number of hours after 9 A.M. for Stock A and the number of hours after noon for Stock B.

The price of Stock A after x hours is given by the following equation:
Price of Stock A = 13.22 + 0.09x

The price of Stock B after x hours is given by the following equation:
Price of Stock B = 13.70 - 0.12x

Since we are looking for the time when the prices are the same, we set the equations equal to each other:
13.22 + 0.09x = 13.70 - 0.12x

Combining like terms, we get:
0.09x + 0.12x = 13.70 - 13.22

Simplifying the equation further, we find:
0.21x = 0.48

Dividing both sides by 0.21 to solve for x gives us:
x = 0.48 / 0.21

Calculating the value of x results in:
x ≈ 2.29 hours

Since Stock B starts changing at noon, 2.29 hours after noon would be the time the prices are the same, approximately at 2:17 P.M.

User Bjan
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