Question

A rain barrel if full of water and used to water a garden. The rain barrel loses water at the rate of 2.5 gallons of water per minutes. After seven minutes, the rain barrel contains 37.5 gallons.If the rain barrel was full of water, how many minutes does it take for the rain barrel to drain so it contains 25 gallons of water? Show or explain your work.

Answer 1

Explanation:

let x represent the rain barrel totally full

x - 2.5(7) = 37.5

x - 17.5 = 37.5

x = 37.5 + 17.5

x = 55 gallons <=== total amount in the rain barrel

for it to drain where there is only 25 gallons, it would have to lose 30 gallons.(because 55 - 30 = 25). So if it loses 2.5 gallons per minute...

30/2.5 = 12 <=== it would take 12 minutes