Question

Li wants to add these items to her suitcase: a hairdryer (1.25 lb), a hand-held video game (0.6 lb), an extra video game (0.25 lb), and a music player (0.4 lb). Using the inequality
x Less than or equal to 2.25, can she add all these items to the suitcase? If not, what could be left out to be closest to the maximum weight allowed? Explain.

Answer 1

First add the weights: 1.25 + 0.6 + 0.25 + 0.4 = 2.50 lb. That exceeds the limit x ≤ 2.25, so she cannot add all the items.

Try removing one item to get as close as possible to 2.25 without going over:
- Remove 0.25 (extra video game): 2.50 − 0.25 = 2.25 lb (exactly the limit).
- Remove 0.4 (music player): 2.50 − 0.4 = 2.10 lb.
- Remove 0.6 (hand-held game): 2.50 − 0.6 = 1.90 lb.
- Remove 1.25 (hairdryer): 2.50 − 1.25 = 1.25 lb.

The best choice is to leave out the extra video game (0.25 lb), giving a total of 2.25 lb which meets the inequality exactly.