A bucket that contains several inches of water is left outside on a rainy day. The height of the water in the bucket that day is given by the function equation H = 4 + 0.5t, where H is the height of the water and t is the time in hours the bucket sits out in the rain.



What is the meaning of the vertical intercept in this equation?



A.


The bucket originally contained 0.5 in. of water.


B.


The bucket originally contained 4 in. of water.


C.


The bucket fills at a rate of 0.5 in./h.


D.


The bucket fills at a rate of 4 in./h.



Answer :

first you can cross out A and D because those are the obvious wrong answers. the answer would be B because the vertical intercept is the y-intercept and 4 was added to the slope. if a number is added to the slope that number will be the vertical intercept.

AL2006
The verticall intercept is the value of H when t=0. It's 4 in this equation. It's that "several inches" of water that were in the bucket when the rain was ready to start.