James uses 1/2 of a cup of sugar in his cookies, and jade uses 3/4 of a cup of sugar in her cookies. noel takes the sum of the two amounts of sugar and divides it into two equal portions, planning to use only one portion of it in his cookies. how much sugar does noel use in his cookies?
a. 3/4 of a cup
b. 5/8 of a cup
c. 5/16 of a cup
d. 1/2 of a cup

Aspacecraft can attain a stable orbit 300 kilometers above earth if it reaches a velocity of 7.7 kilometers per second. the formula for a rocket's maximum velocity v in kilometers per second is vequalsminus0.0098tplusc ln upper r, where t is the firing time in seconds, c is the velocity of the exhaust in kilometers per second, and r is the ratio of the mass of the rocket filled with fuel to the mass of the rocket without fuel. find the velocity of a spacecraft whose booster rocket has a mass ratio of 20, an exhaust velocity of 2.1 km/s, and a firing time of 15 s. can the spacecraft achieve a stable orbit 300 km above earth?