SOLUTION: I have a work problem: Laura lights a candle in her kitchen. The candle is burning at a rate of .5 inches per hour. After 5 minutes the candle is 3.5 inches tall. I need to know wh

Question 1019767: I have a work problem: Laura lights a candle in her kitchen. The candle is burning at a rate of .5 inches per hour. After 5 minutes the candle is 3.5 inches tall. I need to know what equation I use to figure out the height of the candle.
Found 3 solutions by josgarithmetic, josmiceli, MathTherapy:
Answer by josgarithmetic(39617)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Try to identify the job. What is doing the job? Maybe, say the flame is doing a job of consuming length of the candle.

You want to think with RT=L to relate rate, time, length.

Rate is .
Some data is time hours, inches consumed. Think how that makes sense, before continuing.

...

The situation as equation including the units of measure,
, using x for the length of the candle originally.

And then just the numbers without the units,

which should be easy to solve.
Answer by josmiceli(19441)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let = the initial height of the candle
I can say:
[ final height ] = [ rate of decrease] + [ initial height ]

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Convert minutes to hrs
hrs
[ .5 in/hr ] x [ hrs ] = [ inches ]
height decrease after 5 min
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This should give the height after min
--------------
check:

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Here's the plot:
Hope I got it

Answer by MathTherapy(10552)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

I have a work problem: Laura lights a candle in her kitchen. The candle is burning at a rate of .5 inches per hour. After 5 minutes the candle is 3.5 inches tall. I need to know what equation I use to figure out the height of the candle.

With H being height of the candle after t minutes, equation is:
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