The amount of force one exerts on a wrench handle to loosen a bolt is inversely
proportional to the length of the wrench handle. With a wrench 12 inches long
it takes 96 pounds of force to loosen the bolt.
(a) Write the variation function for the force in this situation.
(b) If a person can only exert 60 pounds of force on a wrench, what length
wrench must be used in this situation?

a)

b) l=19.2 units

Step-by-step explanation:

a)Let F represent the force and l represents the length of the wrench handle.

Then inverse variation relation is:

When we introduce the variation constant, we get:

From the question when F=96, l=12

The equation is

b) If a person can only exert 60 pounds of force on a wrench,then

Hence the length of the wrench must be 19.2 units

-2

7 - 9 = -2

reversed:

-2 + 9 = 7