Let's first find the total cost of the text messages Craig can send in a month. Craig is allowed to send 450 text messages without any additional charges. If he sends more than that, he will be charged $0.25 per message. Let's say he sends x additional messages over the 450 allowed:
Cost of additional messages = $0.25 * x
So, the total cost of Craig's text messages in a month is:
Total cost = Cost of allowed messages + Cost of additional messages
Total cost = $0 + $0.25x
Total cost = $0.25x
We know that Craig has a budget of $26 for his cell phone bill. We can set up an equation to represent this:
Total cost ≤ $26
Substituting the expression for the total cost of Craig's text messages, we get:
$0.25x ≤ $26
Dividing both sides by $0.25:
x ≤ 104
Therefore, Craig can go over the allowed amount by at most 104 text messages without breaking his budget of $26.