A broken pipe leaks #5 1/2# gallon of water every #1/4# hour. To the nearest hundredth, determine the rate at which the broken pipe leaks water in gallons per minute?

1 Answer
Apr 3, 2018

#11/30# gallon/minute

Explanation:

First, let's convert #1/4# hour into minutes

1 hour is 60 minutes

#1/4# hour is #60*1/4#, or #60/4#, which is 15

#1/4# hour is 15 minutes

The broken pipe leaks #5 1/2#, or #11/2# gallons per 15 minutes

Set up a proportion with x representing the gallons leaked per 1 minute:

#(11/2)/15=x/1 rarr# Solve for x

#(11/2)/15=x#

#x=11/2*1/15#

#x=11/30 rarr# #11/30# of a gallon is lost every minute