Final answer:
To find out how many hours it will take for the candle to burn 3 1/4 inches, we can set up a proportion using the given information and solve for x. The answer is approximately 3 hours.
Step-by-step explanation:
To solve this problem, we can set up a proportion using the given information. Let x represent the number of hours it will take for the candle to burn 3 1/4 inches. So the proportion would be: (44 inches)/(88 hours) = (3.25 inches)/(x hours). Cross multiplying, we get 44x = 3.25 * 88. Dividing both sides by 44, we find that x = 2.87 hours. Since we can't have a fraction of an hour, we round up to the nearest whole number, giving us an answer of approximately 3 hours.