Question

A student is completing a homework assignment. Each minute the student records the number of problems left to complete. The table shows the data. What is the rate of change of this linear​ function? What does the rate of change represent in this​ situation?
Homework Assignment
Time​ (minutes)
0
1
2
3
4
5
Problems Left
14
12
10
8
6
4
Question content area bottom
Part 1
What is the rate of change of this linear​ function?
The rate of change is
  
enter your response here.

Answers

GPT-4o mini
To calculate the rate of change of the linear function represented by the data in the table, we can use the formula for the rate of change, which is:

\[
\text{Rate of Change} = \frac{\text{Change in Problems Left}}{\text{Change in Time}}
\]

From the table:
- At time \(0\) minutes, there are \(14\) problems left.
- At time \(5\) minutes, there are \(4\) problems left.

To find the total change in problems left:
\[
\text{Change in Problems Left} = 4 - 14 = -10
\]
And the total change in time:
\[
\text{Change in Time} = 5 - 0 = 5
\]

Now, substituting these values into the formula gives us:
\[
\text{Rate of Change} = \frac{-10}{5} = -2
\]

### Part 1 Answer:
The rate of change is **-2**.

### Interpretation:
The rate of change represents the number of problems the student completes per minute. In this case, a rate of **-2** means that the student completes **2 problems each minute**.