Question

At the beginning of a snowstorm, Grayson had 10 inches of snow on his lawn. The snow then began to fall at a constant rate of 0.5 inches per hour. Assuming no snow was melting, how much snow would Grayson have on his lawn 3 hours after the snow began to fall? How much snow would Grayson have on his lawn after t hours of snow falling?

Answer 1

• Grayson had 10 inches of snow in his lawn
• the snow falls at a constant rate of 0.5 inches per hour
• no snow was melting
• the snow has fallen for 3 hours

Let y be the height of the snow in the lawn

Grayson had 10 inches at the beginning (at t=0) so y= 10

3 hours passed so y= 10 + 3*0.5 = 11.5 inches

Grayson had 11.5 inches after three hours

Assuming that the snow continued to fall for an unkhown time t

y = 0.5*t + 10

we had 10 at the beginning so we add 10 (+10)

the snow is growing by 0.5 inches in the single hour so we multiply by 0.5

t is the time and it can 4, 5, 6 ...... hours

Just like a function :

• 0.5 is the slope
• t is the variable
• 10 is the y-intercept