Tessa's water bottle can hold up to 32 ounces of water before it overflows. Tessa has poured 17.5 ounces of water into the bottle so far.

Question

Let x represent how many more ounces of water Tessa can pour into her bottle. Which inequality describes the problem?
Solve the inequality. Then, complete the sentence to describe the solution.
Tessa can pour at most
more ounces of water into her bottle.

Answer 1

To describe the problem mathematically, we can formulate an inequality based on the maximum capacity of the water bottle and the amount of water already poured into it.

The total capacity of the bottle is 32 ounces, and Tessa has already poured in 17.5 ounces. Let \( x \) represent how many more ounces of water Tessa can pour into her bottle. The inequality can be set up as follows:

\[ 17.5 + x \leq 32 \]

Now, let's solve the inequality for \( x \):

1. Subtract 17.5 from both sides:

\[ x \leq 32 - 17.5 \]

2. Calculate the right side:

\[ x \leq 14.5 \]

This means that Tessa can pour at most 14.5 more ounces of water into her bottle.

So, completing the sentence:

Tessa can pour at most 14.5 more ounces of water into her bottle.