Writing Inequalities

LET'S REVIEW: < - "Less Than"    Ex:  3 < 7 < - "Less Than or Equal To"    Ex:  4 < 4 > - "Greater Than"    Ex:  9 > 4 > - "Greater Than or Equal To"    Ex:  10 > 7

WRITING INEQUALITIES

'Less Than' and 'Less Than or Equal To'

< and < both point to the left, you can remember this since they both start with the letter L (Less than and Left) KEY WORDS: "Less than":                          "Less than or equal to": "Less than"                           "Less than or equal to" "Fewer than"                         "No more than" "Up to"                                 "At most"  

'Greater than' & 'Greater than or equal to'

> or > KEY WORDS: "Greater than":              "Greater than or equal to": "Greater than"               "Greater than or equal to" "More than"                   "No less than" "Exceeds"                       "At least" "In Excess of"

LET'S PRACTICE LESS THAN...

There are fewer than 25 freshman here for the game.  Write an inequality using x for the number of freshman.

Solution: "fewer than" means "less than" # of freshman < 15 x < 15

LET'S PRACTICE LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO

There are no more than 15 youth here for practice.  Write an  inequality using x for the number of youth.

Solution: The problem says "no more than" which means it can be 15 or less. # of youth < 15 x < 15

LET'S PRACTICE GREATER THAN...

Sam has more than $100 in his coat pocket.  Write an inequality letting x represent the amount of money in Sam's pocket.

Solution: "more than" means "greater than" amount of $$ > $100 x > 100

LET'S PRACTICE Greater than or equal to...

Once you have your own cell phone bill to pay for it will cost you at least $50 a month.  Let x represent the cost of the phone bill.

Solution: "at least" means it will cost you $50 or more which means "greater than or equal to"  amount of bill > $50 x > 50  

Now You Try...

Hannah's checking account exceeds $400.  Write an inequality using x to represent the amount of money in Hannah's account. 

Hannah's checking account exceeds $400.  Write an inequality using x to represent the amount of money in Hannah's account. 

Solution...

Solution: "exceeds" means "greater than" amount of $$ > $400 x > 400    

Now You Try...

Christy's puppy weighs at most 10 pounds.  Write an inequality using x to represent how much Christy's puppy weighs.

Christy's puppy weighs at most 10 pounds.  Write an inequality using x to represent how much Christy's puppy weighs.

Solution: "at most" means the puppy can weigh 10 pounds but no more than 10 pounds so this means "less than or equal to" # of pounds puppy weighs < 10 x < 10

Solution...

Now it's time for you to go try some problems on your own.  Don't forget I am just a message away, so please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.   HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY!!

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