Answer: They earned $0.00 in April.
Solution: This function is a parabola that opens upward, so the lowest value is at the vertex. To find the month, we find –b/2a = –(–8)/(2 × 1) = 8/2 = 4. So the vertex is at t = 4, which represents the month of April. To find how much they earned, we set t = 4 and solve: 42 – 8(4) + 16 = 16 – 32 + 16 = 0. So, the cat-sitting business earned $0.00 in April.
Answer: The squirrel is 6 inches tall.
Solution: The length of the tree’s shadow is two-thirds the height of the tree. So, the length of the songbird’s shadow is two-thirds its height; 2 inches is two-thirds of 3 inches, so the songbird must be 3 inches tall. That means that the squirrel is 6 inches tall because 6 inches is twice as tall as 3 inches.
