Final answer:
Sheldon reads at 24 pages per hour and would take 20 hours to read a 480-page book. Betty reads at 12 pages per hour and would take 40 hours, making it 20 hours longer for Betty than Sheldon. A table or graph could clearly visualize and compare their reading times.
Step-by-step explanation:
Calculating Reading Times for Sheldon and Betty
Sheldon can read 6 pages in 15 minutes, which means he reads at a rate of 24 pages per hour (since there are 4 fifteen-minute segments in an hour and 6 x 4 = 24). On the other hand, Betty can read 12 pages in 1 hour. To find out how long it would take each of them to read a 480-page book, we divide the number of pages by their reading rates. For Sheldon, 480 pages ÷ 24 pages/hour = 20 hours. For Betty, 480 pages ÷ 12 pages/hour = 40 hours.
The difference in time it would take for Betty to read the 480-page book compared to Sheldon is 40 hours - 20 hours = 20 hours longer. A table or graph could visually represent these calculations by plotting the number of pages against the time taken to read them, clearly showing how Betty's reading time stretches out compared to Sheldon's.
Also, using a graph or table to represent their reading speeds could help in making comparisons visually faster and could be used for extrapolating data for different numbers of pages. It's a useful approach to illustrate how improving resources and technology can optimize performance in various tasks, such as reading or doing homework.