Question

Liz is shipping a package to her friend. The maximum weight of a medium flat-rate box is 20 pounds, including the box which weighs 6 ounces. Write and solve an inequality to describe the possible weight in pounds, w, of the contents that Liz will ship to her friend if she must use a medium flat-rate box. Use the drop-down menus to explain your answer.

Answer 1

To find the weight of the contents that can be shipped in a medium flat-rate box, first convert the box's weight from ounces to pounds and subtract it from the maximum allowed weight, resulting in a possible content weight of up to 19.625 pounds.

Step-by-step explanation:

Liz is using a medium flat-rate box for shipping, which has a maximum weight limit of 20 pounds. To solve for the possible weight w of the contents, we first need to convert the weight of the empty box to pounds, since the weight of the box is given in ounces. There are 16 ounces in a pound, so the weight of the box in pounds is 6 ounces × (1 pound / 16 ounces) = 0.375 pounds. The inequality that represents the weight w of the contents can then be written as:

w + 0.375 ≤ 20

Subtracting the weight of the box from the maximum allowed weight gives us:

w ≤ 20 - 0.375

w ≤ 19.625

Therefore, the contents of the box that Liz will ship can weigh up to 19.625 pounds.

Answer 2

Here's a screenshot of the answer: