When we have a given function f(x), the rate of change in a given value x₀ is given by:
[tex]\frac{df(x_0)}{dx} = \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{f(x_0 + h) - f(x_0)}{h}[/tex]
We will find that the rate of change at t = 4s is:
r = -1/3
Now we can't do this if we do not have the function and we only have a text description of the graph, but what we can do is find the average rate of change.
For a function f(x), the average rate of change in an interval (a, b) such that a < b is given by:
[tex]r = \frac{f(b) - f(a)}{b - a}[/tex]
Something really nice is that the average rate of change is equal to the exact rate of change if f(x) is a linear equation.
If we want to find the rate of change at t = 4, then we need to find the smallest interval that contains t = 4.
Here we know that the graph passes through the points:
(3,1) to (6, 0)
Because of the statement "a line falling from (3, 1) to (6, 0)" we know that in this segment we have a line, which implies that the average rate of change will be equal to the exact rate of change.
Using the equation of the average rate of change we get:
[tex]r = \frac{d(6) - d(3)}{6 - 3} = \frac{0 - 1}{3} = - 1/3[/tex]
Then the rate of change in the distance at the time t = 4s is -1/3.
If you want to learn more, you can read:
https://brainly.com/question/18904995
