Question

Ling must spend no more than $40.00 on decorations for a party. She has spent $10.00 on streamers and wants to buy bags of balloons as well. Each bag of balloons costs $2.50. The inequality below represents x, the number of bags she can buy given the spending limit and how much she has already spent on streamers.

10 + 2.5 x less-than-or-equal-to 40

Which best describes the number of bags of balloons she can buy?
She can buy from 0 to 12 bags, but no more.
She can buy from 0 to 20 bags, but no more.
She must buy 12 or more bags.
She must buy 20 or more bags.

Answer 1

Solve 10 + 2.5x ≤ 40:
2.5x ≤ 30 → x ≤ 12.

x is the number of bags (can't be negative), so she can buy from 0 up to 12 bags, but no more.