Question

A doctor sees between 7 and 12 patients each day. On Mondays and Tuesdays, the appointment times are 15 minutes. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, they are 30 minutes. On Fridays, they are one hour long. The doctor works for no more than 8 hours a day.

Here are some inequalities that represent this situation.
0.25 ≤ y ≤ 1 7≤x≤ 12 xy ≤8
a. What does each variable represent?
b. What does the expression xy in the last inequality mean in this situation?

Answer 1

a. The variables in this situation represent the number of patients the doctor sees each day (x) and the length of each appointment time in hours (y). b. The expression xy in the last inequality represents the total time the doctor spends seeing patients in a day.

Step-by-step explanation:

a. In this situation, the variables represent:

• x: The number of patients the doctor sees each day
• y: The length of each appointment time in hours

b. In the expression xy in the last inequality, it represents the total time the doctor spends seeing patients in a day. This is found by multiplying the number of patients seen (x) by the length of each appointment time (y).