A manufacturer knows that their items have a normally distributed lifespan, with a mean of 10.8 years, and standard deviation of 3.3 years.
The 4% of items with the shortest lifespan will last less than how many years?
Give your answer to one decimal place.

At a sand and gravel plant, sand is falling off a conveyor and onto a conical pile at a rate of 16 cubic feet per minute. the diameter of the base of the cone is approximately three times the altitude. at what rate is the height of the pile changing when the pile is 12 feet high? (hint: the formula for the volume of a cone is v = 1 3 πr2h.)

Browning labs is testing a new growth inhibitor for a certain type of bacteria. the bacteria naturally grows exponentially each hour at a rate of 6.2%. the researchers know that the inhibitor will make the growth rate of the bacteria less than or equal to its natural growth rate. the sample currently contains 100 bacteria. the container holding the sample can hold only 300 bacteria, after which the sample will no longer grow. however, the researchers are increasing the size of the container at a constant rate allowing the container to hold 100 more bacteria each hour. they would like to determine the possible number of bacteria in the container over time. create a system of inequalities to model the situation above, and use it to determine how many of the solutions are viable.

Jack has a piece of red ribbon that is two times as long as his piece of blue ribbon. he says that he can use two different equation to find out how long his piece of red ribbon is compared to his piece of blue ribbon is. is he correct? explain his reasoning