Question

A robot is expected to filter pollution out of at least
\[350\] liters of air and water. It filters air at the rate of
\[50\] liters per minute, and it filters water at the rate of
\[20\] liters per minute.
Write an inequality that represents the number of minutes the robot should filter air
\[(A)\] and water
\[(W)\] to meet this expectation.

Answer 1

To represent the situation with an inequality, we first set variables for the quantities of air and water filtered over time:

- Let \( A \) represent the number of minutes the robot filters air.
- Let \( W \) represent the number of minutes the robot filters water.

Given the rates of filtration:
- The robot filters air at a rate of \( 50 \) liters per minute.
- The robot filters water at a rate of \( 20 \) liters per minute.

Now, we can express the total amount of air and water filtered in terms of \( A \) and \( W \):

- The amount of air filtered is \( 50A \) liters.
- The amount of water filtered is \( 20W \) liters.

The total amount of filtered air and water must be at least \( 350 \) liters. Therefore, we can set up the following inequality:

\[
50A + 20W \geq 350
\]

This inequality represents the requirement for the robot to filter at least \( 350 \) liters of air and water combined.