High School

The x-intercept of the equation \( y = -10x + 3000 \) means the skydiver lands on the ground after _____ seconds. The slope _____ means that the skydiver falls to the ground at a rate of _____ feet per second.

Answer :

Final answer:

The x-intercept of the equation y = -10x + 3000 is 300, which means the skydiver lands after 300 seconds. The slope of -10 indicates the skydiver falls at a rate of 10 feet per second.

Explanation:

The x-intercept of the equation y = -10x + 3000 represents the point where the graph of the equation crosses the x-axis. At this point, the y-value is zero, which corresponds to the skydiver reaching the ground. To find the x-intercept, set y to zero and solve for x:

0 = -10x + 3000

x = 3000 / (-10)

x = -300

Since time cannot be negative, we take the absolute value and see that the skydiver lands on the ground after 300 seconds.

The slope of the equation is -10, which means that for every second that passes, the skydiver falls an additional 10 feet. Therefore, the skydiver falls to the ground at a rate of 10 feet per second.