Mrs. Ortega is making her special cantaloupe-and-honeydew salad for a school banquet and doesn't want to spend more than $34 at the supermarket. Currently, cantaloupes cost $4 each and honeydew melons cost $1 each.

Question

Select the inequality in standard form that describes this situation. Use the given numbers and the following variables.
x = the number of cantaloupes she will purchase
y = the number of honeydew melons she will purchase

Answer 1

To form the inequality that represents Mrs. Ortega's budget for the cantaloupe-and-honeydew salad, we can start by identifying the costs of the fruits based on the variables you provided:

• The cost of cantaloupes: \(4x\) (where \(x\) is the number of cantaloupes)
• The cost of honeydew melons: \(1y\) (where \(y\) is the number of honeydew melons)

Mrs. Ortega does not want to spend more than $34, so we can represent this situation with the following inequality:

\[ 4x + 1y \leq 34 \]

To express this in standard form (which typically places the variables on one side and the constant on the other), we can rearrange it:

\[ 4x + y \leq 34 \]

Thus, the inequality that describes Mrs. Ortega's situation in standard form is:

\[ 4x + y \leq 34 \]