A fish is swimming at −10.8 meters, or 10.8 meters below sea level. Every 2 minutes it descends another 1.5 meters. How long will it take for the fish to reach a depth of −37.8 meters?

Answer 1

To find how long it will take for the fish to reach a depth of −37.8 meters, we need to determine how many 1.5 meter descents it will take to reach that level.

The difference between the starting depth and the target depth is 37.8 - (-10.8) = 37.8 + 10.8 = 48.6 meters.
Each descent is 1.5 meters, so we divide the total difference by the descent amount: 48.6 ÷ 1.5 = <<48.6/1.5=32>>32.

Therefore, it will take the fish 32 descents, or 32 × 2 = <<32*2=64>>64 minutes, to reach a depth of −37.8 meters. Answer: \boxed{64}.