solve the following word problem. fish is swimming at negative 10.8 m, or 10.8 m below sea level. every 2 minutes it descends another 1.5 m. how long would it take for the fish to read a depth of -37.8 m? show your work and write a sentence to explain what your answer means.

Answer 1

To find out how long it would take for the fish to reach a depth of -37.8 m, we need to divide the change in depth by the descent rate.

Change in depth = -37.8 m - (-10.8 m) = -37.8 m + 10.8 m = -27 m

Descent rate = 1.5 m/2 minutes = 0.75 m/minute

Time = Change in depth / Descent rate = -27 m / 0.75 m/min = -36 minutes

Since time cannot be negative, we can conclude that it would take the fish 36 minutes to reach a depth of -37.8 m.

Explanation: The fish is swimming at a depth of -10.8 m and descends 1.5 m every 2 minutes. To reach a depth of -37.8 m, the fish would need to descend an additional 27 m. At a descent rate of 0.75 m/minute, it would take the fish 36 minutes to reach that depth.