Solving Inequalities

Solving inequalities is like solving equations, except for one rule:

o When you MULTIPLY or DIVIDE both sides of the equation by a NEGATIVE NUMBER,
you must FLIP around the INEQUALITY SIGN.

Examples: Solve the following. Then, graph your answer.

1) x 3 5

4)

x
28
3

2) 2 x 4 12

3) 2 x 4 8

5) 4n 20

6)

7) 4 2a 6

8) 1 4a 21

10) 6 11b 3

11)

d
16 9
6

3
a 21
4

9) 2(2 x 1) 10

12)

e
8 1
4

13) 3(2 x 4) 6

16) 6(5x 8) 2(8 7 x)

14) 4n 6 6n 20

15) 8 y 15 27 2 y

17) 17 11n 13 4(n 1) 2n

Examples: Solve the following by setting up an inequality.

1) The student council votes to buy food for a local food bank. A case of 12 jars of spaghetti sauce
costs $13.75. What is the greatest number of cases of sauce the student council can buy if they use
at most $216 for this project?
Relate: cost per case times the number of cases is at most total cost

2) Your family budgets $160 to spend on fuel for a trip. How many times can they fill the cars gas
tank if it costs $25 each time?

3) The science club charges $4.50 per car at their car wash. Write and solve an inequality to find how
many cars they have to wash to earn at least $300.

4) Suppose you earn $6.15 per hour working part time at a dry cleaner. Write and solve an inequality
to find how many full hours you must work to earn at least $100.

5) Aldo has a $16 gift card for a health food store where a smoothie costs $2.50 with tax. What are the
possible numbers of smoothies that Aldo can buy?

6) One cell phone company offers a plan that costs $29.99 and includes unlimited night and weekend
minutes. Another company offers a plan that costs $19.99 and charges $.35 per minute during nights
and weekends. For what numbers of night and weekend minutes does the second companys plan cost
more than the first companys plan?

7) A sales representative is given a choice of two salary plans. One choice includes a monthly base of
$300 plus 10% commission on his sales. The second choice is a monthly salary of $1200. For what
amount of sales would the representative make more money with the first plan?

8) Manuel has saved $91 from last year and would like to baby-sit to earn enough to buy a mountain
bike. A good quality bike costs at least $300. He can earn $5.50 an hour babysitting. What numbers
of hours can Manuel baby-sit to reach his goal?