Melissa is budgeting for her trip to the mall. She does not want to spend more than $170. She wants to buy a dress that costs $32.50 and some shirts that cost $18.25 each. Melissa uses the following inequality to determine the maximum number of shirts she can buy. 18.2x + 32.50 < 170

Question

Based on the above information, what is the maximum number of shirts Melissa can buy?
A.
6
B.
7
C.
8
D.
9

Answer 1

To determine how many shirts Melissa can buy, we first need to set up the inequality correctly.

Melissa's total budget is $170, and she wants to include the cost of a dress which is $32.50 and the cost of shirts which are $18.25 each.

The correct inequality should be:

\[ 32.50 + 18.25x \leq 170 \]

Now, let's isolate \( x \):

1. Subtract $32.50 from both sides: \[ 18.25x \leq 170 - 32.50 \] \[ 18.25x \leq 137.50 \]

2. Divide both sides by $18.25 to solve for \( x \): \[ x \leq \frac{137.50}{18.25} \] \[ x \leq 7.527 \]

Since \( x \) represents the number of shirts, it must be a whole number. Therefore, we take the largest whole number less than or equal to 7.527, which is 7.

Thus, the maximum number of shirts Melissa can buy is:

B. 7.