Question

Marcus and Camden are scuba diving. Marcus is at elevation of -40 feet and he is descending at a rate of 12 feet per minute.Camden is an elevation of -14 feet and he's descending at a rate of 16 feet. Each minute the variable represents the time and minute after how many minutes will Marcus and Camden be at the same elevation. at what elevation will they be at at the at that time

Answer 1

Marcus and Camden, given their rates of descent, will never be at the same elevation. The algebraic equation derived from their respective descent rates confirms this because it results in a negative time, which is not feasible.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine after how many minutes Marcus and Camden will be at the same elevation, and at what elevation they will be, we can set up an equation for each diver and then solve for the time when their elevations are equal.

Marcus's equation, based on his initial elevation and rate of descent, is ElevationMarcus = -40 - 12t, where t is the time in minutes.

Camden's equation is ElevationCamden = -14 - 16t.

We set these two equations equal to find the time they will be at the same elevation:
-40 - 12t = -14 - 16t.

By solving this equation, we can find the value of t. Rearrange and simplify the equation to isolate t and solve:
4t = -26
t = -26 / 4
t = -6.5.

However, a negative time doesn't make sense in this context, indicating they will never be at the same elevation given the rates of descent.