Question

A restaurant's average food preparation time was tracked from day to day as part of an efficiency improvement program.
Average food preparation time
Day Food preparation time (minutes)
Tuesday 31
Wednesday 29
Thursday 23
Friday 14
Saturday 18
According to the table, what was the rate of change between Wednesday and Saturday?
Round your answer to the nearest tenth.
minutes per day

Answer 1

To find the rate of change in food preparation time between Wednesday and Saturday, we can use the formula for rate of change:

\[
\text{Rate of Change} = \frac{\text{Change in Food Preparation Time}}{\text{Change in Days}}
\]

From the table:

- Food preparation time on Wednesday: 29 minutes
- Food preparation time on Saturday: 18 minutes

Now, we can find the change in food preparation time and the change in days:

\[
\text{Change in Food Preparation Time} = \text{Food Preparation Time on Saturday} - \text{Food Preparation Time on Wednesday} = 18 - 29 = -11 \text{ minutes}
\]

The change in days from Wednesday to Saturday is 3 days (Wednesday to Thursday to Friday to Saturday).

Now, we substitute these values into the formula:

\[
\text{Rate of Change} = \frac{-11 \text{ minutes}}{3 \text{ days}} \approx -3.6667 \text{ minutes per day}
\]

Rounding to the nearest tenth gives:

\[
\text{Rate of Change} \approx -3.7 \text{ minutes per day}
\]

Thus, the rate of change between Wednesday and Saturday is approximately **-3.7 minutes per day**.