Question

Beth and her daughter took a hot-air balloon ride at the county fair. When they were 925 feet off the ground, the balloon pilot said they were climbing at a rate of 550 feet per second. You can use a function to describe the altitude of the hot-air balloon x seconds later.
Is the function linear or exponential? make an equation that best represents the function.

Answer 1

The function is linear because the altitude changes at a constant rate (550 ft per second).
If x is seconds after the time given, the altitude A(x) (in feet) is

A(x) = 925 + 550x, for x ≥ 0.

(925 is the initial altitude at x = 0; 550 is the slope in ft/s.)