Lauren is planning a catered dinner party for her parents' anniversary with a dinner budget of $288. She has selected two options: a chicken dinner that costs $9 per plate and a steak dinner that costs $12 per plate. Lauren is working on the guest list and must also determine how many of each meal to order.

Question

Let x
represent the number of chicken dinners and let y
represent the number of steak dinners.
If Lauren orders only chicken dinners, how many dinners can she order?

Complete the equation that represents this situation.
Make sure that you write the coefficient first, then the variable. For example 3 times x
should be entered 3x
and 5 times y
should be entered 5y
.

Answer 1

The equation that represents this situation is:

9x ≤ 288