Question

28 students travel on a field trip. They bring a van that can seat 12 students. Elena and Kiran's teacher asks parents to drive cars that seat 3 children each to transport the rest of the students.

Elena wonders if she should use the inequality
12+3>28
12
+
3
n
>
28
or
12+3≥28
12
+
3
n
≥
28
to figure out how many cars are needed. Kiran doesn't think it matters in this case. Solve the inequality to explain why Kiran is correct. (use / to represent fractional quantities and a space between whole numbers and the fraction. Example
112
1
1
2
type as 1 1/2)


n

Answer 1

Answer: Yes, you can use this inequality to find the numbers of cars required.

Explanation:

12 + 3n > 28 where n = the number of cars required

3n > 28 -12

3n > 16

n > 5 1/3

Greater than 5 1/3 gives 6 cars.

Answer 2

See below.

Explanation:

12 + 3n ≥ 28

3n ≥ 16

n ≥ 5 1/3

The number of cars must be equal to or greater than 5 1/3.

Since there is no 1/3 of car, that means there must be 6 cars.

Whether the inequality is 12 + 3n > 28 with a solution of more than 5 1/5 or the inequality is 12 + 3n ≥ 28 with a solution of 5 1/3 or more, the answer is the same because the minimum number of cars that will be enough is 6.