Question

Grandpa Ernie is shrinking! Over the past 444 years, his height decreased by a total of 2.4 \text{ cm}2.4 cm2, point, 4, start text, space, c, m, end text. It decreased by the same amount each year. What was the change in Grandpa Ernie's height each year?

Answer 1

Given:

Over the past 4 years, Grandpa Ernie's height decreased by a total of 2.4 cm.

It decreased by the same amount each year.

To find:

The change in Grandpa Ernie's height each year.

Solution:

Total change in Grandpa Ernie's height in past 4 years = -2.4 cm

Here, negative sign represents the decrease in height.

It decreased by the same amount each year.

So, change in each year is

$\text{Change each year}=\dfrac{\text{Total change}}{\text{Number of years}}$

$\text{Change each year}=\dfrac{-2.4}{4}$

$\text{Change each year}=-0.6$

Therefore, the change in Grandpa Ernie's height each year is -0.6 cm. It means, the Grandpa Ernie's height decreased by 0.6 cm each year.