Answer:
590,000 gallons
Explanation:
The rocket carried 600,000 gallons of fuel at liftoff.
It burned about 8% of its remaining fuel every 15 seconds.
This is an example of a reduction by a constant factor. We can model it using the depreciation function below:
[tex]\begin{gathered} V(t)=V_o(1-r)^{\frac{t}{15}} \\ V(t)=600,000(1-0.08)^{\frac{t}{15}} \\ V(t)=600,000(0.92)^{\frac{t}{15}} \end{gathered}[/tex]Note: t is in minutes.
So, the amount of fuel remaining in the first stage 2 minutes after liftoff will be:
[tex]\begin{gathered} V(2)=600,000(0.92)^{\frac{2}{15}} \\ =593,366 \\ \approx590,000(to\text{ the nearest ten thousand gallons)} \end{gathered}[/tex]In 2 minutes after liftoff, the amount of fuel remaining, to the nearest 10 thousand gallons is 590,000.
