An air cargo plane can transport as many as 15 regular shipping containers. One super-size container takes up the space of 3 regular containers. Write an inequality to model the number of regular and super-size containers the plane can transport.
Let the number of regular containers the plane can transport be x and the number of super-size containers the plane can transport be y, then
Given that one super-size container takes up the space of 3 regular containers, i.e. y = 3x and that the capacity of the plane is 15 regular containers.
When the ship is not carrying any super-sized container, it can carry up to 15 regular containers and when the ship is not carrying any regular containers it can carry up to 5 super-sized containers.
Therefore, the inequality to model the number of regular and super-size containers the plane can transport is given by
x + 3y ≤ 15