Final answer:
To express the total pages read as a function of time, the equation is P(t) = 149 + r × t, where r is the rate of reading in pages per minute and t is the time in minutes from the starting point.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student has read 3/8 of a 396-page book. To determine the total number of pages read as a function of time, we start by calculating the pages already read, which is (3/8) * 396 = 149 pages. We'll denote the rate of reading as 'r' pages per minute, which we don't currently know. If 't' represents the time in minutes from x=0, the total number of pages read as a function of time 'P(t)' can be described as:
P(t) = 149 + r × t
Here, P(t) is the total number of pages read after t minutes, which includes the 149 pages that were already read.