Question

The number of gallons, y, in a tank after x hours may be modeled by the linear equation y=800-50x. Which of the following is true? It is filling a rate of 50 gallons per hour. It is emptying at a rate of 16 gallons per hour. It is filling at a rate of 800 gallons per hour. It is filling at a rate of 800 gallons per hour. It is emptying at a rate of 800 gallons per hour. It is emptying at a rate of 50 gallons per hour.

Answer 1

The last statement is true.
I'm not sure whether you have done calculus or not, but anyway, if you take the derivative of y, it will give you y'=-50. This means that it is emptying at a rate of 50 gallons per hour
Otherwise, you can try plugging in some numbers , let x=1,2,3,etc. and see what happens.

Answer 2

Hey 09Ti08, no I haven't taken calculus but I have taken pre-calculus. I am just terrible at word problems. But yeah, the last answer was my educated guess. Thank you for the help though. I appreciate it!