Question

A restaurant manager can spend at most $400 a day for operating costs and payroll. It costs $80 each day to operate the restaurant and $40 a day for each employee. Use the following inequality to determine how many employees the manager can afford for the day, at most:

1) x ≥ 8
2) x ≥ 12
3) x ≤ 8
4) x ≤ 12

Answer 1

The manager can afford at most 8 employees for the day.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine how many employees the manager can afford for the day, we can set up an inequality using the given information. Let x represent the number of employees the manager can afford. The total cost for operating costs and payroll is $400, and it costs $80 each day to operate the restaurant. In addition, it costs $40 a day for each employee. Therefore, the inequality is 80 + 40x ≤ 400.

To solve this inequality, we can subtract 80 from both sides: 40x ≤ 320. Then, divide both sides by 40 to isolate x: x ≤ 8.

Therefore, the correct answer is option 3) x ≤ 8. The manager can afford at most 8 employees for the day.