Question

In 1924, the temperature in Fairfield, Montana, dropped from 63 degrees to -21 degrees in 12 hours. What was the average hourly change in temperature?

Answer 1

`84^o/(12 hrs)=7^o/(hr)`

Explanation:

Let's first figure out how many degrees the temperature changed.

It's `63^o` from 63 to 0, then another `21^o` from 0 down to `-21`, so the temperature changed in total:

`63^o +21^o=84^o`

How many hours did it take to change the temperature? 12 hours. So we can say the temperature changed `84^o` over 12 hours, or:

`84^o/(12 hrs)=7^o/(hr)` (remember that `7xx12=84`)