Solve the following word problem. 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? Show your work and write a sentence to explain what your answer means.

Answer 1

To find the time it takes for the fish to reach a depth of -37.8 meters, we can set up an equation:

-10.8 - 1.5t = -37.8

First, let's simplify the equation:

-1.5t = -37.8 + 10.8

-1.5t = -27

Next, let's solve for t (the time):

t = (-27) / (-1.5)
t = 18

Therefore, it will take the fish 18 minutes to reach a depth of -37.8 meters.

This means that every 2 minutes, the fish descends 1.5 meters. So, if it took 18 minutes to reach a depth of -37.8 meters, it descended a total of 1.5 meters every 2 minutes for a total of 18/2 = 9 times.