A fish is swimming at −10.8 meters, or 10.8 meters below sea level. Every 2 minutes it descends another 1.5 meters. How long will it take for the fish to reach a depth of −37.8 meters?
To find how long it will take for the fish to reach a depth of −37.8 meters, we need to determine how many 1.5 meter descents it will take to reach that level.
The difference between the starting depth and the target depth is 37.8 - (-10.8) = 37.8 + 10.8 = 48.6 meters.
Each descent is 1.5 meters, so we divide the total difference by the descent amount: 48.6 ÷ 1.5 = <<48.6/1.5=32>>32.
Therefore, it will take the fish 32 descents, or 32 × 2 = <<32*2=64>>64 minutes, to reach a depth of −37.8 meters. Answer: \boxed{64}.
To find out how long it will take for the fish to reach a depth of -37.8 meters, we need to determine how many times the fish will descend by 1.5 meters.
The fish is currently at a depth of -10.8 meters, and it needs to descend by 37.8 meters, so the total distance it needs to descend is:
37.8 meters - 10.8 meters = 27 meters
Since the fish descends 1.5 meters every 2 minutes, we can divide the total distance it needs to descend by the descent rate to find out how many times it will descend:
27 meters ÷ 1.5 meters = 18
Therefore, the fish will descend 18 times.
Since the fish descends by 1.5 meters every 2 minutes, it will take 2 minutes for each descent. Therefore, it will take the fish:
18 times × 2 minutes per descent = 36 minutes
So, it will take the fish 36 minutes to reach a depth of -37.8 meters.