Question

At the end of a snowstorm, Jamal had 18 inches of snow on his lawn. The temperature then increased and the snow began to melt at a constant rate of 2.5 inches per hour. Assuming no more snow was falling, how much snow would Jamal have on his lawn 5 hours after the snow began to melt? How much snow would Jamal have on his lawn after tt hours of snow melting?

Answer 1

Part 1)

5.5 inches.

Part 2)

`y=-2.5t+18`

Explanation:

We can write a linear equation to model the function.

Let y represent the inches of snow and let t represent the number of hours since the end of the snowstorm.

A linear equation is in the form:

`y=mt+b`

Since there was 18 inches of snow in the beginning, our y-intercept or b is 18.

Since it melts at a constant rate of 2.5 inches per hour, our slope or m is -2.5.

Substitute:

`y=-2.5t+18`

This equation models how much snow Jamal will have on his lawn after t hours of snow melting.

So, after five hours, t = 5. Substitute and evaluate:

`y=-2.5(5)+18=5.5\text{ inches}`

After five hours, there will still be 5.5 inches of snow.