SAT Question 8c515062: Linear Equations In One Variable answer and explanation with Desmos solution

Choice D is correct. It's given that the candle starts with $17$ ounces of wax and has $6$ ounces of wax remaining after a period of time has passed. The amount of wax the candle has lost during the time period can be found by subtracting the remaining amount of wax from the amount of wax the candle was made of, which yields $17-6$ ounces, or $11$ ounces. This means the candle loses $11$ ounces of wax during that period of time. It's given that the amount of wax decreases by $1$ ounce every $4$ hours. If $h$ represents the number of hours the candle has been burning, it follows that $\frac{1}{4}=\frac{11}{h}$. Multiplying both sides of this equation by $4h$ yields $h=44$. Therefore, the candle has been burning for $44$ hours.