To find out how long it will take for the fish to reach a depth of -37.8 meters, we need to figure out how many meters it must descend from its current depth of -10.8 meters.
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Calculate the difference in depth:
- The fish starts at -10.8 meters and needs to reach -37.8 meters.
- To find out how much deeper the fish needs to go, we can subtract: \[ -37.8 - (-10.8) = -37.8 + 10.8 = -27.0 \text{ meters} \]
- So, the fish needs to descend 27.0 meters to reach -37.8 meters.
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Find out how many 1.5 meter descents are needed:
- Next, we need to see how many times the fish descends 1.5 meters to cover 27.0 meters: \[ \frac{27.0 \text{ meters}}{1.5 \text{ meters}} = 18 \]
- This means the fish needs to descend 1.5 meters a total of 18 times.
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Calculate the total time taken:
- Since the fish descends every 2 minutes, we can find the total time: \[ 18 \text{ descents} \times 2 \text{ minutes/descending} = 36 \text{ minutes} \]
So, it will take the fish 36 minutes to reach a depth of -37.8 meters.
Conclusion: It means that after 36 minutes of swimming deeper into the ocean, the fish will be at a depth of -37.8 meters, which is a lot lower than where it started.