Question

Natalia wants to put a decorative edge around her flower bed. She already has 4 feet of edging, but she needs enough to edge 95 feet. The edging material comes in rolls 7 feet long.

Write and solve an inequality to find the number of rolls Natalia needs?

Answer 1

91 ft ≤ (7 ft)n or n ≤ 13

Explanation:

total amount of edging is

e(n) ≤ 4 ft + (7 ft)n

This inequality relates the total length of edging to the number of 7 ft rolls needed.

If Natalia needs 95 ft of edging, we write e(n) ≤ 4 ft + (7 ft)n as

95 ft ≤ 4 ft + (7 ft)n

which simplifies to

91 ft ≤ (7 ft)n or n ≤ 13

Natalia must purchase 13 rolls. This, combined with the initial 4 ft of edging, will be just the right amount of edging to complete the job.