Question

Lamar has $16.00 that he can spend on food for his cat. Dry cat food costs $4.50 per small bag and wet cat food costs $2.50 per tin can. Write a linear inequality that describes how many bags and cans of cat food Lamar can buy. Let the amount of dry food equal x and the amount of wet food equal y.

The linear equality that describes how many bags and cans of cat food Lamar can buy is ________

Answer 1

The inequality representing Lamar's budget for cat food is 4.50x + 2.50y <= 16.00, where x is the number of dry food bags and y is the number of wet food cans.

Step-by-step explanation:

The linear inequality that describes how many bags and cans of cat food Lamar can buy is 4.50x + 2.50y ≤ 16.00. Each small bag of dry cat food costs $4.50, so if x represents the number of bags, then 4.50x represents the total cost for the dry food. Similarly, each tin can of wet cat food costs $2.50, so 2.50y represents the total cost for the wet food. Lamar has a total of $16.00 to spend, hence the sum of these costs should not exceed $16.00. The inequality 4.50x + 2.50y ≤ 16.00 ensures that Lamar's spending on cat food stays within his budget.