High School

Henry's water bottle is leaking at a constant rate. The amount of water, [tex]W[/tex], in ounces, that is left in the water bottle after leaking for [tex]m[/tex] minutes is given by the equation:

\[ W = -0.5m + 16 \]

What does the [tex]-0.5[/tex] mean in the equation?

Answer :

Final answer:

In the equation 'W = -0.5m + 16', the '-0.5' represents the rate at which water is leaking from the bottle, in ounces per minute.

Explanation:

In the given equation W = -0.5m + 16, the value '-0.5' represents the rate at which the water is leaking from Henry's water bottle. This equation is a form of a linear equation, y = mx + c, where 'm' is the slope of the line representing the rate of change, 'c' is the y-intercept representing the initial value, 'y' represents the dependent variable and 'x' represents the independent variable.

Interpreting this in the context of this problem, 'W' represents the amount of water left in the bottle (in ounces), 'm' stands for the time in minutes, '+16' indicates the starting amount of water in the bottle (in ounces), and '-0.5' signifies how much water is lost per minute. Therefore, in this case, '-0.5' means that Henry's water bottle is leaking at a rate of 0.5 ounces per minute.

Learn more about linear equations here:

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