To determine how long it will take for the creek to rise to 12 inches above its flood stage, we can set up the equation based on the information given.
- The creek is currently 4.75 inches above flood stage.
- It is rising at a rate of 2.5 inches per hour.
We want to find out how long it will take for the creek to rise to 12 inches above flood stage.
First, we need to find out how many additional inches it needs to rise:
12 inches (target height) - 4.75 inches (current height) = 7.25 inches.
Now, we can use the rate of rise to find the time:
\[ \text{Time} = \frac{\text{Additional height required}}{\text{Rate of rise}} = \frac{7.25 \text{ inches}}{2.5 \text{ inches/hour}}. \]
Calculating this gives:
\[ \text{Time} = \frac{7.25}{2.5} = 2.9 \text{ hours}. \]
So, it will take 2.9 hours for the creek to be 12 inches above its flood stage.
The correct answer is 2.9 hours.