Question

once the hot air balloon reaches its cruising altitude, it flies at an elevation of 2,400 feet. it stays at its cruising altitude, meaning it does not ascend or descend, for 30 minutes. you just found that the vertical intercept is 2,400. what does the vertical intercept mean in this situation? the balloon reached its cruising altitude at an elevation of 2,400 feet. the balloon’s elevation increases 2,400 feet per minute.

Explanation:

The vertical intercept of a graph represents the value of the dependent variable (elevation, in this case) when the independent variable (time since reaching cruising altitude) is 0. At time 0, the balloon has just reached its cruising altitude, which is 2,400 feet. The second option is incorrect because the elevation does not change over time, so there is no increase per minute.

Answer:

The balloon reached its cruising altitude at an elevation of 2,400 feet.