Asked by Makayla

Sheleah and her family are planning a trip from Los Angeles, California to Melbourne, Australia. While booking her family's plane tickets, she notices on the itinerary that the airline is offering a sixteen hour straight flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne on a Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental Jet. In an effort to learn more about the capabilities of the Jet, Sheleah does a little research and stumbles upon the following graph and facts about the Jet's fuel consumption.



The Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental Jet can carry approximately 63,500 gallons of jet fuel, making it possible for the jet to travel 14,430 kilometers before needing to refuel.

Create a linear model that represents the amount of fuel on the plane, in gallons, as a function of the flight time, in hours. Show all of your work.



WRITER

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
We assume the plane uses its full fuel supply (63,500 gal) over the 16‑hour flight (the 14,430 km range corresponds to that 16‑hour trip). Let t be flight time in hours and F(t) the gallons of fuel remaining.

1. Fuel consumption rate (gallons per hour) = total fuel ÷ total hours
= 63,500 gal ÷ 16 hr = 3,968.75 gal/hr.

2. Linear model (starting with full tank at t = 0):
F(t) = 63,500 − 3,968.75·t, for 0 ≤ t ≤ 16.

Check: F(0) = 63,500 gal; F(16) = 63,500 − 3,968.75·16 = 0 gal.