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How Do You Use Subtraction to Solve an Inequality Word Problem?

Ajay has a budget for algebra supplies of at most $22. If he has already spent 12.75 on pens, pencils, and paper how much money can he spend on “I love algebra” bumper stickers?

Summary

  1. 'm' is a variable that represents how much money Ajay can spend on stickers
  2. Create an inequality from the word problem
  3. '≤' means less than or equal to
  4. Solve for 'm' by subtracting 12.75 from both sides
  5. 22 minus 12.75 is 9.25
  6. Ajay can spend at most 9.25 dollars

Notes

    1. 'm' is a variable that represents how much money Ajay can spend on stickers
    1. 'm' is a variable that represents how much money Ajay can spend on stickers
    2. Our equation is now 12.75 + m
    1. What we have so far is 12.75+m
    2. 'm' is a variable that represents how much money Ajay can spend on stickers
    3. '≤' stands for less than or equal to, which is an inequality
    1. 'm' is a variable that represents how much money Ajay can spend on stickers
    2. We can solve for 'm' by getting 'm' alone and on one side of the inequality symbol
    1. The subtraction property of inequality says that if we subtract one thing from a side then we must subtract it from the other side
    1. The left hand side is 12.75+m-12.75 which is just 'm'
    2. The right hand side is 22-12.75 which is 9.25
    3. 'm' is a variable that represents how much money Ajay can spend on stickers
    1. Since 'm' is an amount of money, then it should have units of dollars
    2. 'm' is a variable that represents how much money Ajay can spend on stickers