Question

How many suitcases averaging 32 pounds apiece can be loaded onto a plane that can hold a maximum of 2,150 pounds of storage? If s represents the number of suitcases, how would you write an inequality expressing this situation?

Answer 1

To find out how many suitcases can be loaded onto the plane, we need to divide the maximum storage capacity of the plane by the average weight of each suitcase.

Let s be the number of suitcases. Since each suitcase weighs an average of 32 pounds, the total weight of s suitcases is 32s.

The inequality expressing this situation can be written as:
32s ≤ 2150

Now, we solve for s:
s ≤ 2150 / 32
s ≤ 67.1875

Since s represents the number of suitcases and it cannot be a fraction, the maximum number of suitcases that can be loaded onto the plane is 67.