A college student is looking at her monthly checking account records. On September 1, 2008, her checking account held a balance of $1,050. At the end of March 2009, her checking account held a balance of $800. What is the monthly rate of change for the student’s checking account over the period September 1, 2008 through March 31, 2009?

($1050 - $800)/7months = ?

250/7

To calculate the monthly rate of change for the student's checking account, we need to find the difference in balance between September 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009, and divide it by the number of months in that period.

Step 1: Find the difference in balance
Balance on September 1, 2008 = $1,050
Balance on March 31, 2009 = $800

Difference in balance = $800 - $1,050 = -$250

Step 2: Calculate the number of months
September 1, 2008, to March 31, 2009, is a period of 7 months.

Step 3: Calculate the monthly rate of change
Monthly rate of change = Difference in balance / Number of months
Monthly rate of change = -$250 / 7

The monthly rate of change for the student's checking account over the period September 1, 2008, through March 31, 2009, is approximately -$35.71.

To find the monthly rate of change for the student's checking account over the period September 1, 2008, through March 31, 2009, we need to calculate the difference in the balance between the two dates and divide it by the number of months in that period.

First, let's calculate the difference in the balance:
Balance on September 1, 2008 = $1,050
Balance on March 31, 2009 = $800

Difference in balance = $1,050 - $800 = $250

Next, we need to determine the number of months between September 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009. We count the number of months between the two dates, excluding the first and last months.

Number of months = 7 (October, November, December 2008, and January, February, March 2009)

Finally, we can calculate the monthly rate of change by dividing the difference in balance by the number of months:

Monthly rate of change = difference in balance / number of months
= $250 / 7
= $35.71 (rounded to two decimal places)

Therefore, the monthly rate of change for the student's checking account over the period September 1, 2008, through March 31, 2009, is approximately $35.71.