A scientist wanted to measure the constant rate of the current in a particular section of the river. She released a tracker into the river. The tracker sent her back the following information:
After 3.5 seconds since the tracker was released into the river the tracker had traveled 5.5 meters.
After 10.9 seconds since the tracker was released into the river the tracker had traveled 16.5 meters.
What is the constant rate of the current?

You can use the fact that the rate of the change of a value when some other independent value changes is the ratio of change in the dependent variable to the change in the independent variable.

The constant rate of the current is given by 1.4865 meters per second.

How to measure the rate of change of something as some other value changes?

Suppose that we have to measure the rate of change of y as x changes, then we have:

[tex]Rate = \dfrac{y_2 - y_1}{x_2 - x_1}[/tex]

where we have

[tex]\rm when \: x=x_1, y = y_1\\when\: x = x_2, y= y_2[/tex]

Remember that, we divide by the change in independent variable so that we get some idea of how much the dependent quantity changes as we change the independent quantity by 1 unit.

(5 change per 3 unit can be rewritten as 5/3 change per 1 unit)

How to measure the constant rate of the current for the given situation?

The distance traveled by the tracker depends on the time passed.

Let the variable "t" tracks the amount of time passed and let the variable "d" tracks the distance traveled by the tracker, then we have:

[tex]\rm At \: t = t_1 = 3.5, d=d_1 = 5.5 \: m\\At \: t = t_2 = 10.9, d = d_2 = 16.5 \: m[/tex]

Thus, the constant rate of current is obtained by

[tex]Rate = \dfrac{d_2 - d_1}{t_2 - t_1} = \dfrac{16.5 - 5.5}{10.9 - 3.5} = \dfrac{11}{7.4} \\\\Rate \approx 1.4865 \: \text{meters per second}[/tex]

Thus,

The constant rate of the current is given by 1.4865 meters per second.

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