Let x represent the number of minutes passed after the start of the experiment, and let f(x) represent the temperature of the solution.
Once the temperature reached 45°C, the experiment was stopped. Over which interval did Peter conduct the experiment?
A. 2 <= x <= 6
B. 0 <= x <= 2
C. 0 <= x <= 3
D. 0 <= x <= 6
The correct answer and explanation is:
The correct answer is D. 0 <= x <= 6.
Here is the explanation:
In this scenario, the variable x represents the number of minutes passed since the start of the experiment, and f(x) represents the temperature of the solution as a function of time. The experiment was stopped once the temperature reached 45°C. The question asks us to identify the interval during which the experiment was conducted.
Since f(x) is the temperature of the solution, the temperature reached 45°C at some point, and the experiment was stopped at that point. The interval of time during which Peter conducted the experiment is essentially the time between the start of the experiment (at x = 0) and the time when the temperature reached 45°C.
If the temperature reached 45°C at the end of 6 minutes, then the experiment was conducted during the interval 0 <= x <= 6. This would mean the temperature started at a certain value and increased over time, reaching 45°C exactly at x = 6, and the experiment was concluded right after that.
This interpretation assumes the experiment lasted for 6 minutes in total. The other intervals (2 <= x <= 6, 0 <= x <= 2, and 0 <= x <= 3) would suggest different end times for the experiment, but they are not consistent with the condition that the experiment was stopped once the temperature reached 45°C, which in this case happened at x = 6.
Thus, the correct time interval during which Peter conducted the experiment is 0 <= x <= 6.