Question

juanita is testing her new model airplane. she starts its descent at an elevation of 2,500 feet. it descends at a constant rate of 500 feet per minute. what is the vertical intercept for this line? in other words, at what elevation did the plane start to descend? the slope is -500. the vertical intercept is \boxed{}.

Explanation:

Step1: Understand vertical intercept

The vertical intercept (y - intercept) of a line in the form \( e = mt + b \) (where \( e \) is elevation, \( t \) is time, \( m \) is slope, and \( b \) is vertical intercept) is the value of \( e \) when \( t = 0 \).

Step2: Find elevation at \( t = 0 \)

From the problem, when the plane starts to descend, \( t = 0 \) minutes. The elevation at this time is given as 2,500 feet. Also, from the graph, when \( t = 0 \), the point on the graph has an elevation of 2500 feet.

Answer:

2500