Question

Malcolm has $638.54 in his checking account. He must maintain a $500 balance to avoid a fee. He wrote a check for $159.50 today. Write and solve an inequality to solve for the least amount of money he needs to deposit to avoid a fee.

Answer 1

The required inequality is:

`638.54-159.50+x\geq 500`

The value of x is
`x\geq 20.96`, Malcolm need to deposit at least 20.96 to avoid a fee.

Explanation:

Consider the provided information.

Malcolm has $638.54 in his checking account. He must maintain a $500 balance to avoid a fee. He wrote a check for $159.50 today.

Let x is the amount he need to deposit to avoid a fee.

It is given that he needs to maintain at least $500.

That means the total balance should be greater or equal to $500.

Therefore, the required inequality is:

`638.54-159.50+x\geq 500`

Now solve the inequality for x.

`479.04+x\geq 500`

`479.04-479.04+x\geq 500-479.04`

`x\geq 20.96`

Hence, Malcolm need to deposit at least 20.96 to avoid a fee.