Final answer:
James can afford to pay up to $16.50 for each ticket.
Step-by-step explanation:
In this problem, James has $40 to spend on two show tickets. He also has to spend $7 for transportation. To find the highest price James can afford to pay for each ticket, we can use the inequality 2r + 7 ≤ 40, where r represents the price of each ticket.
Subtracting 7 from both sides of the inequality, we have 2r ≤ 33. Then, dividing both sides by 2, we get r ≤ 16.5.
Therefore, James can afford to pay up to $16.50 for each ticket.