We have the following information from the question:
• A sight-seeing ship is stopped in the water for an hour, miles from the shore.
,
• Then the captain heads the ship back to the shore at a constant rate.
,
• The ship docks at the shore for a while and then return to the open sea.
Then we have to choose the graph that best represents the situation.
To do this, we need to analyze the three situations separately by knowing that on the y-axis we have graphed a distance relative to the shore (dependent variable), and on the x-axis, we have the time as an independent variable:
1. A sight-seeing ship is stopped in the water for an hour, miles from the shore:
If we see this situation, we have to check a distance larger than zero at x = 0. Then we have to see a horizontal line for an hour since the ship is stopped in the water for an hour, and this is because the ship is stopped, and the ship remains in the same place for an hour.
2. Then the captain heads the ship back to the shore at a constant rate:
It means that the ship will shorten the distance with respect to the shore, and this will be verified at a constant rate. Then we need to check in the graph a segment with a negative slope.
3. The ship docks at the shore for a while and then return to the open sea:
We need to check on the graph that the distance from the shore will be zero, and then we will have a horizontal line since the ship will remain for a while in the shore. Then the ship will return to the open sea, and we will check that the distance to shore will increase constantly.
Therefore, the graph that gives the best representation is the second graph from the left, that is:
Therefore, in summary, the
