Hector's school is holding a fitness challenge. Students are encouraged to exercise at least [tex]$2 \frac{1}{2}$[/tex] hours per week. Hector exercises about the same number of hours each week. During a 4-week period, he exercises for [tex]$11 \frac{1}{2}$[/tex] hours. Hector wants to compare his exercise rate with the fitness challenge rate.

How many hours per week does Hector exercise?

[tex]\square[/tex] hour(s) per week

To find out how many hours per week Hector exercises, we need to distribute the total hours he exercised over the 4-week period evenly across each week.

1. Total Exercise Hours: Hector exercised a total of [tex]$11 \frac{1}{2}$[/tex] hours over the 4-week period. In decimal form, this is 11.5 hours.

2. Number of Weeks: The period described is 4 weeks.

3. Calculate Hours Per Week:
[tex]\[
\text{Hours per week} = \frac{\text{Total exercise hours}}{\text{Number of weeks}} = \frac{11.5 \text{ hours}}{4 \text{ weeks}}
\][/tex]

4. Division:
[tex]\[
\frac{11.5}{4} = 2.875
\][/tex]

Therefore, Hector exercises approximately 2.875 hours per week.