a whale is swimming at the current depth of 15 m above the surface. It swims up toward the surface and arrives there 9.5 seconds later on the cushion that best describes the rate of change in the whales depth give your answer to the nearest hundred.

Answer 1

To find the rate of change in the whale's depth as it swims from 15 meters below the surface to the surface (0 meters), we can use the following formula:

\[ \text{Rate of change} = \frac{\text{Change in depth}}{\text{Time taken}} \]

1. Change in depth: The whale starts at -15 m (15 meters below the surface) and swims to 0 m (the surface). So, the change in depth is:

\[ 0 - (-15) = 15 \text{ m} \]

2. Time taken: The time taken to swim to the surface is 9.5 seconds.

Now we can calculate the rate of change:

\[ \text{Rate of change} = \frac{15 \text{ m}}{9.5 \text{ s}} \approx 1.5789 \text{ m/s} \]

Rounding this to the nearest hundredth:

\[ \text{Rate of change} \approx 1.58 \text{ m/s} \]

Therefore, the rate of change in the whale's depth is approximately 1.58 m/s.