Real-Life Math
A stationary engineer is no stranger to math. Most times, the math skills are needed to make predictions.
On the coldest day on record, the heating system at the hospital has decided to go on the fritz! Within hours, the facility has dropped from its normal internal temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit to an almost inhuman 49 degrees!
You are called to the hospital and are greeted by the hospital's president. "Glad you could make it in this blizzard!" he says. "We need heat in this place and we need it now! What do you recommend?"
Good question. He's lucky, though, because your brother, who owns a heating supplies company on the other side of town, can have a Bazzomatic 2000 heating and cooling system delivered to the hospital within an hour.
You tell the hospital president that you and your men can have the Bazzomatic installed in 2 hours. "Excellent! Get on that right away."
Before long, the hospital will have its heat. Once the Bazzomatic 2000 kicks in, it will heat the facility at a rate of 4.5 degrees per hour. In light of this, exactly how long will it take for the place to go from its present internal temperature of 49.3 back to the normal temperature of 72.0?