Question

Robert is painting a house. He has 35 cans of paint. He has used 30 kinds of paint on the walls. Now he needs to paint the trim. If each section of the trim takes 1/2 can of paint, how many sections of trim can he paint? Show your answer as an inequality with symbols, in words, and with a number line. Make sure your solution makes sense for this situation.​

Answer 1

• x ≤ 10

• Maximum number of trims that can be painted with 5 cans is 10

• See number line image

Explanation:

There are 5 cans left over after painting the walls.

Let x represent the maximum number of trims that can be painted

Since each trim requires 1/2 a can, x trims will take x/2 cans

This cannot exceed 5 cans so we get the inequality:
x/2 ≤ 5

Multiplying by 2 both sides of inequality:
x ≤ 10

In words:
Maximum number of trims that can be painted with 5 cans is 10

Number line attached