Question

a construction company is digging an area before building a house. they have been digging for 12.5 hours and are at a depth of -6 feet. if they keep digging at the same rate, how much longer will it be until they have dug another 11 feet, rounded to the nearest hour?

Answer 1

To calculate the additional time required to dig another 11 feet, we first determine the digging rate, which is 0.48 feet per hour. Then, we divide the desired additional depth by the rate, resulting in approximately 22.92 hours, which is rounded to 23 hours.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's question involves calculating the time needed to dig to a certain depth at a constant rate. The construction company has already dug to a depth of -6 feet after 12.5 hours of work. To find out how much longer it will take to dig another 11 feet, we first need to calculate the rate of digging.

The rate of digging can be determined by dividing the depth reached by the time taken so far. This gives us a rate of -6 feet per 12.5 hours, or -0.48 feet per hour (since the negative sign indicates depth below the surface, it can be considered as 0.48 feet per hour downwards).

To reach another 11 feet deeper, we divide the additional depth by the rate of digging: 11 feet / 0.48 feet per hour = 22.92 hours. Rounded to the nearest hour, the company would need an additional 23 hours to reach the desired depth.