Question

A hot air balloon descended 3240 feet in an hour. Find the change in altitude per minute?

Answer 1

An hour is the equivalent of 60 minutes. Because the hot air balloon descended 3,240 feet in an hour, we can set up an equation to represent this:

3,240 / 60 = 54

Therefore, the change in altitude per minute is 54 feet.

Answer 2

Unit Analysis

Unit analysis is a tool that we can use to convert units. It involves multiplying the original number by a fraction to cancel out units.

Solving the Question

We're given:

`\frac{3240\hspace{4}feet}{hour}`

We also know that:

`\frac{hour}{60\hspace{4}minutes}`

Multiply the two to cancel out the hour:

`\frac{3240\hspace{4}feet}{hour}*\frac{hour}{60\hspace{4}minutes}\\\\=\frac{3240\hspace{4}feet}{60 minutes}`

Simplify:

`=\frac{54\hspace{4}feet}{minute}`

Answer

`\frac{54\hspace{4}feet}{minute}`