Chelsea is budgeting for her trip to the mall. She does not want to spend any more than $140. If she wants to buy a dress that costs $28.50 and some shirts that cost $20.75 each, how many shirts can she buy? Use the inequality to help solve the problem.

Answer 1

Let \( x \) be the number of shirts Chelsea wants to buy. The total cost for the dress and the shirts can be represented by the equation:

\[ \text{Total Cost} = \text{Cost of Dress} + \text{Cost of Shirts} \]

This can be expressed as:

\[ 28.50 + 20.75x \leq 140 \]

Now, we'll solve the inequality step by step.

1. Subtract the cost of the dress from both sides:

\[ 20.75x \leq 140 - 28.50 \]

Calculating the right side:

\[ 140 - 28.50 = 111.50 \]

So the inequality becomes:

\[ 20.75x \leq 111.50 \]

2. Now, divide both sides by 20.75 to solve for \( x \):

\[ x \leq \frac{111.50}{20.75} \]

Calculating \( \frac{111.50}{20.75} \):

\[ x \leq 5.37 \]

Since Chelsea can only buy a whole number of shirts, we round down to the nearest whole number. Therefore, the maximum number of shirts she can buy is:

\[ x \leq 5 \]

In conclusion, Chelsea can buy at most 5 shirts.