Pool A starts with 400 gallons of water. It has a leak and is losing water at a rate of 4 gallons of water per minute. At the same time, Pool B starts with 420 gallons of water and also has a leak. It is losing water at a rate of 8 gallons per minute. The variable t represents the time in minutes. After how many minutes will the two pools have the same amount of water? How much water will be in the pools at that time?

Start by writing an expression to represent the amount of water in Pool A after t minutes, where t represents the number of minutes.
Pool A

Pool B

1 answer

To find out how much water is in each pool after \( t \) minutes, we can create expressions for the amount of water in Pool A and Pool B as they lose water over time.

Pool A

Pool A starts with 400 gallons of water and loses water at a rate of 4 gallons per minute. Therefore, the expression for the amount of water in Pool A after \( t \) minutes is:

\[ \text{Water in Pool A} = 400 - 4t \]

Pool B

Pool B starts with 420 gallons of water and loses water at a rate of 8 gallons per minute. Thus, the expression for the amount of water in Pool B after \( t \) minutes is:

\[ \text{Water in Pool B} = 420 - 8t \]

Finding When Both Pools Have the Same Amount of Water

To find the time \( t \) when both pools have the same amount of water, we can set the two expressions equal to each other:

\[ 400 - 4t = 420 - 8t \]

Solving for \( t \)

  1. Rearrange the equation:

\[ 400 - 420 = -8t + 4t \]

\[ -20 = -4t \]

  1. Divide both sides by -4:

\[ t = \frac{20}{4} \]

\[ t = 5 \]

Finding the Amount of Water in the Pools at \( t = 5 \)

Now, we can substitute \( t = 5 \) back into either expression to find the amount of water in both pools at that time.

Using Pool A's expression:

\[ \text{Water in Pool A} = 400 - 4(5) = 400 - 20 = 380 \text{ gallons} \]

Using Pool B's expression:

\[ \text{Water in Pool B} = 420 - 8(5) = 420 - 40 = 380 \text{ gallons} \]

Conclusion

After 5 minutes, both Pool A and Pool B will have the same amount of water, which is 380 gallons.

  • Time until equal amounts of water: \( 5 \) minutes
  • Amount of water in both pools at that time: \( 380 \) gallons