Meg is printing a term paper for class at the rate shown in the table below. If the term paper is 60 pages long, how many total minutes will it take to print out? Assume that the printer prints the pages at a constant rate.


Meg’s Term Paper Printing Progress
Time (minutes)
3
4
5
6
7
Pages Printed
7.5
10
12.5
15
17.5


To solve this, we need to first find the rate at which Meg's printer prints pages per minute. We can use the data from the table to calculate this rate.

### Step 1: Determine the rate of printing (pages per minute).
We will use two points from the table to calculate the rate. Let's choose the points for \( t = 3 \) and \( t = 4 \).

At \( t = 3 \) minutes, Meg has printed 7.5 pages.  
At \( t = 4 \) minutes, Meg has printed 10 pages.

The change in the number of pages printed is:

\[
\Delta \text{Pages} = 10 - 7.5 = 2.5 \text{ pages}
\]

The change in time is:

\[
\Delta \text{Time} = 4 - 3 = 1 \text{ minute}
\]

So, the printer prints at a rate of:

\[
\text{Rate} = \frac{2.5 \text{ pages}}{1 \text{ minute}} = 2.5 \text{ pages per minute}
\]

### Step 2: Find how long it takes to print 60 pages.
Now that we know the printer prints 2.5 pages per minute, we can calculate the time needed to print 60 pages. Using the formula:

\[
\text{Time} = \frac{\text{Total Pages}}{\text{Rate}}
\]

Substituting the values:

\[
\text{Time} = \frac{60 \text{ pages}}{2.5 \text{ pages per minute}} = 24 \text{ minutes}
\]

### Conclusion:
It will take Meg **24 minutes** to print her 60-page term paper.

Would you like more details or have any further questions?

Here are 5 related questions for practice:
1. How many pages will the printer print in 10 minutes?
2. If Meg only has 15 minutes to print, how many pages will she be able to print?
3. What would the total time be if Meg’s term paper were 100 pages long?
4. If the printer's rate increased to 3 pages per minute, how long would it take to print 60 pages?
5. How many minutes would it take to print 30 pages at the current rate?

**Tip**: When working with rates, always confirm the units match before dividing or multiplying (e.g., pages per minute vs minutes per page).

Meg is printing a term paper for class at the rate shown in the table below. If the term paper is 60 pages long, how many total minutes will it take to print out? Assume that the printer prints the pages at a constant rate.

Learn how to calculate the total time to print a 60-page term paper at a constant rate. Use data from Meg’s printing progress table to find the rate of pages per minute and apply the formula to find the solution. Suitable for students in Grades 6-8.

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