The sea floor is 104 feet below sea level. Katy is 28 feet below sea level and is moving downward at a rate of 4 feet per minute. Colin used the following calculation to determine how long it will take Katy to reach the sea floor:

[tex]\[ 104 - 28 + 4 = 97 \][/tex] minutes.

Is he correct? Explain.

Answer :

Let's solve the problem of determining how long it will take Katy to reach the sea floor.

1. Understand the problem:
- The sea floor is 104 feet below sea level.
- Katy is currently 28 feet below sea level.
- Katy is moving downward at a rate of 4 feet per minute.
- We need to calculate how long it will take Katy to reach the sea floor.

2. Calculate the distance Katy needs to travel:
- Katy needs to travel from her current depth to the sea floor.
- We can find this distance by subtracting Katy's current depth from the sea floor depth.
- Distance to travel = Sea floor depth - Katy's current depth
- So, Distance to travel = 104 feet - 28 feet = 76 feet.

3. Determine the time it takes to travel this distance:
- Katy is moving downward at a rate of 4 feet per minute.
- Time = Distance / Rate
- Time to reach the sea floor = 76 feet / 4 feet per minute = 19 minutes.

4. Conclusion:
- Colin's calculation was incorrect. He used the equation [tex]\(104 - 28 + 4 = 97\)[/tex] minutes, which is not the right approach to solve this problem.
- The correct time it takes Katy to reach the sea floor is 19 minutes.