Question

A student estimates he spent 20 minutes working on his homework, give or take 5 minutes. Represent this statement as an absolute value function. Choose the best answer.

A. |x - 20| ≤ 5
B. |x - 20| ≥ 5
C. |x - 5| ≤ 20
D. |x - 5| ≥ 20

Answer 1

The statement that a student spent 20 minutes on homework, give or take 5 minutes, is represented by the absolute value inequality |x - 20| ≤ 5, which is answer choice A.

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement that a student estimates they spent 20 minutes working on their homework, give or take 5 minutes, can be represented as an absolute value inequality. This means that the actual time spent could be within 5 minutes less than or more than the estimated 20 minutes. The correct representation of this statement as an absolute value function is |x - 20| ≤ 5. This inequality states that the distance between the actual time, x, and the estimated time, 20 minutes, is less than or equal to 5 minutes. Hence, the correct answer to the question is A. |x - 20| ≤ 5.