The hot air balloon starts descending from an elevation of 2,400 feet. It descends at a constant rate of 400 feet per minute.

Question

Complete the table to show the balloon’s elevation after it started to descend.
Time since balloon
started to descend
(min) Elevation (ft)
0 2,400
1
2
3
4

Answer 1

To complete the table, we can calculate the elevation at each minute by subtracting the product of the descent rate (400 feet per minute) and the time (in minutes) from the starting elevation (2,400 feet).

Here’s how you can calculate each elevation:

1. At 0 minutes:

   • Elevation = 2,400 feet (starting point)

2. At 1 minute:

   • Elevation = 2,400 - (400 * 1) = 2,400 - 400 = 2,000 feet

3. At 2 minutes:

   • Elevation = 2,400 - (400 * 2) = 2,400 - 800 = 1,600 feet

4. At 3 minutes:

   • Elevation = 2,400 - (400 * 3) = 2,400 - 1,200 = 1,200 feet

5. At 4 minutes:

   • Elevation = 2,400 - (400 * 4) = 2,400 - 1,600 = 800 feet

Now, we can fill in the table as follows:

| Time since balloon started to descend (min) | Elevation (ft) | |----------------------------------------------|-----------------| | 0 | 2,400 | | 1 | 2,000 | | 2 | 1,600 | | 3 | 1,200 | | 4 | 800 |