Question

A parent is using a garden hose to fill up a small inflatable pool for her young child. The pool has a capacity of 90 gallons. She turns the water off after 5 minutes, but leaves the hose in the pool for another 3 minutes before putting it away.

In this situation, the relationship between the gallons of water in the pool and the 8 minutes since the parent started filling the pool can be seen as a function.

In that function, which variable is independent? Which one is dependent?

Type your response in the space below.

Answer 1

The independent variable is time since it is controlled by the parent (minutes the tap is open), and the dependent variable is the volume of water in the pool as it depends on the time.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the given situation, the relationship between the gallons of water in the pool and the minutes since the parent started filling the pool can indeed be seen as a function. The independent variable is the time in minutes because it is the variable you have control over; it is set by how long the parent decides to keep the water running. The dependent variable is the gallons of water in the pool, because it depends on how much time has passed – specifically, the amount of water increases as time increases while the parent fills the pool.

The function could be represented as: gallons of water (dependent) = f(time in minutes, independent). Therefore, when creating a graph or an equation to represent this situation, time would be plotted on the x-axis (independent variable) and the volume of water in the pool would be plotted on the y-axis (dependent variable).

Answer 2

Independent variable = the time. Dependent variable = amount of water per minute

Step-by-step explanation;

The total amount of water depends on how long the hose is left on.