Question

Renna pushes the elevator button, but the elevator does not move. The mass limit for the elevator is
\[450\] kilograms (
\[\text{kg}\]), but Renna and her load of identical packages mass a total of
\[620\,\text{kg}\]. Each package has a mass of
\[37.4\,\text{kg}\].
Write an inequality to determine the number of packages,
\[p\], Renna could remove from the elevator to meet the mass requirement.

Answer 1

Let p be the number of packages removed. After removing p packages the mass is 620 − 37.4p, which must be at most 450, so
620 − 37.4p ≤ 450.

Solving: −37.4p ≤ −170 → 37.4p ≥ 170 → p ≥ 170/37.4 ≈ 4.545.
Since p is an integer, Renna must remove at least 5 packages.