Question

Ernesto is designing an exhibit of his paintings and has at most 168 square feet of wall space on which to display them. His small paintings take up 9 square feet each, and his larger paintings take up 23 square feet each.

Write the inequality in standard form that describes this situation. Use the given numbers and the following variables.
x = the number of small paintings
y = the number of large paintings

Answer 1

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The inequality in standard form is:

9x + 23y ≤ 168

This is because the total wall space used by the small paintings is 9x square feet and the total wall space used by the large paintings is 23y square feet. The sum of these two cannot exceed the maximum wall space available, which is 168 square feet.