Question

The level of the ocean rises and falls each day. These changes are called tides. A tide table shows when the tide will rise to a high tide and when it will fall to a low tide at a particular location. Study the patterns in the tide table shown below.

Tides for the Month of December
Day Low Tide a.m. High Tide a.m. Low Tide p.m. High Tide p.m.
4 12:13 a.m. 5:20 a.m. 12:40 p.m. 7:21 p.m.
5 1:32 a.m. 6:55 a.m. 1:35 p.m. 8:02 p.m.
6 2:32 a.m. 8:16 a.m. 2:27 p.m. 8:39 p.m.

Which of the following is a reasonable tide time on day 7?

low tide at about 3:05 a.m.


high tide at about 10:30 a.m.


low tide at about 4:55 a.m.


high tide at about 8:20 a.m.

Answer 1

Answer: low tide at about 3:05 a.m.

Reason: tide times move later by roughly an hour each day. Day 6 low tide is 2:32 a.m., so day 7 low tide should be a little after 3:30 a.m.; 3:05 a.m. is the only choice close to that. The other times are either much too late (10:30 a.m., 4:55 a.m.) or unrealistically almost unchanged (8:20 a.m.).