Question

Ellie bought a plant and planted it in a pot near a window in her house. As the plant grows, its height, in inches, can be modeled by the function

H
(
t
)
=
2
t
+
8
,
H(t)=2t+8, where
t
t is the number of months since Ellie bought the plant. What is the
y
y-intercept of the function and what is its interpretation in the context of the problem?

Answer 1

y intercept = 8 inches

This means that at the point where Ellie bought the plant, it was already 8 inches tall.

Explanation:

given that:

H(t)=2t+8

where H is the height in inches and t is the number of months since Ellie bought the plant.

The y-intercept is the point where the graph intersects the y-axis and it occurs at t=0.

If we substitute this into the equation,

H(0) = 2(0) + 8 = 8

Hence at t = 0. the plant is 8 inches tall.

This means that at the point where Ellie bought the plant, it was already 8 inches tall.