Question

A student is measuring the length of an icicle, y, every hour, x. The icicle is currently 9 inches long and is melting at a rate of 0.6 inches per hour. Find and interpret the slope for this relationship.

9; the length of the icicle when the student first measures it
−9; the length of the icicle when the student first measures it
0.6; for every additional hour, the length of the icicle increases by 0.6 inches
−0.6; for every additional hour, the length of the icicle decreases by 0.6 inches

Answers

Answered by GPT-4o mini
In this scenario, the length of the icicle, \( y \), decreases over time, as it is melting. The initial length of the icicle is 9 inches, and it melts at a rate of 0.6 inches per hour.

The slope, in this case, refers to the rate of change of the length of the icicle with respect to time. Since the icicle is melting, the slope is negative. That means for every additional hour that passes, the length of the icicle decreases by 0.6 inches.

Thus, the correct interpretation of the slope is:

**−0.6; for every additional hour, the length of the icicle decreases by 0.6 inches.**

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