The temperature one spring day was 78 degrees. Starting at 1:15 pm the temperature drops 0.25 degrees per minute. What temperature will it be at 1:25 pm?
Do I divide 0.25/1:25 to get the answer?
If you did that, you'd get 0.2. I don't think the temperature would be 0.2.
Try this and see if you get a more reasonable answer.
78 - (10 * 0.25) = _______ degrees
To find the temperature at 1:25 pm, you need to calculate how many minutes have passed since 1:15 pm, and then multiply that by the rate at which the temperature drops.
The time difference from 1:15 pm to 1:25 pm is 10 minutes (60 minutes per hour minus 15 minutes equals 45 minutes; plus 10 minutes equals 55 minutes).
To find the temperature change for 10 minutes, you multiply the rate of temperature drop (0.25 degrees per minute) by the number of minutes:
0.25 degrees/minute × 10 minutes = 2.5 degrees.
Since the temperature drops by 2.5 degrees, you subtract this value from the initial temperature of 78 degrees:
78 degrees - 2.5 degrees = 75.5 degrees.
Therefore, the temperature at 1:25 pm would be approximately 75.5 degrees.