Final answer:
The candle will take 7.92 hours to burn from 4 inches to 1/25 inches, considering the burn rate of 0.5 inches per hour.
Step-by-step explanation:
The rate of a candle's burning can be seen as a linear relationship between the height of the candle and the time it burns. The student's question involves a candle that is initially 4 inches tall and burns at a rate of 0.5 inches per hour. The question asks how long it will take for the candle to reach a height of 1/25 inches.
To solve this, we set up a proportion based on the given information:
Initial height of candle = 4 inches
Burn rate = 0.5 inches/hour
Desired height = 1/25 inches
The first step is to determine the total amount of candle height that needs to be burned:
4 inches - 1/25 inches = 3.96 inches
Next, we calculate the time it takes to burn 3.96 inches of the candle:
3.96 inches รท 0.5 inches/hour = 7.92 hours
Therefore, it takes 7.92 hours for the candle to burn down to 1/25 inches.