A killer whale has eaten 75 pounds of fish today. It needs to eat at least 140 pounds of fish each day A bucket holds 15 pounds of fish. Identify an inequality that represents how many more buckets z of fish the whale needs to eat?

Question

5971 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2016-12-13T09:00:27

#"If the count of buckets is "x" then we have: " x >=4 1/3#

Let the count of buckets needed be #x#

#color(blue)("Determine the amount left that needs to be consumed")#

For now drop the unit of measurement of lb

Total needed - total eaten so far = remainder to eat

#color(green)(140 -75 = 65)#

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#color(blue)("Determine the exact count of bucket loads")#

quantity in 1 bucket x count of buckets = remainder to eat

#15x = 65#

divide both sides by 15

#15/15 x=65/15#

But #15/15=1#

#x=65/15 = 4.3333...# as an exact value

but 0.33333...#=1/3#

#x=4 1/3# buckets
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#color(blue)("Write this as an inequality")#

At least #4 1/3# buckets is the same as:

Greater than or equal to which is written as #>=# or #<=# depending on which way things are.

Thus we have:

The count of buckets is greater than or equal to #4 1/3#

#=>x>=4 1/3#