Question

Each year for 5 years, the time it takes you to run a mile decreases by 8 seconds. Find the total change in time.

Answer 1

For this case, the first thing we must do is define variables.

We have then:

x: number of years

y: total change in time (seconds)

We now write the equation that models the problem.

We know that each year the time decreases by 8 seconds.

Therefore, the equation is:

$y = 8x$

For the year number 5 we have:

$y = 8 (5)\\y = 40$

Answer:

the total change in time is 40 seconds

Answer 2

The loss in time per mile is  8 seconds each year. Therefore the loss over 5 years is
$(8 \, \frac{seconds}{year})(5 \, years ) = 40 \, seconds$

Answer: 40 seconds