Question

Brandon has a 55-gallon fish tank. He estimates he can drain the tank at an average rate of 11 gallons per minute. In a linear model of this situation, x represents the number of minutes the tank has been draining and y represents the amount of water in the tank. Relative to this situation, what does the y-intercept represent?

Answer 1

55 gallons, the initial quantity of water in the tank

Explanation:

Y is defined as the amount of water in the tank. When X (the number of minutes spent draining) is zero, no water has left the tank. So, the Y-intercept is the initial amount of water in the tank, 55 gallons.