Question

if 15 people with 225 total pounds of luggage plan to ride an elevator with 3000 pound weight limit write and solve an inequality to find the allowable average weight per person

Answer 1

The 15 people are transporting 225 pounds of luggage, this means that the total weight in the elavator is the weight of the 15 people added by the extra luggage.

$\text{elevator load}=15\cdot w+225$

Since the maximum load allowed in the elevator is 3000 pound, then the expression "15w+225" must be less than 3000.

$15\cdot w+225<3000$

To solve the inequality the first step is to subtract both sides by 225.

$\begin{gathered} 15\cdot w+225-225<3000-225 \\ 15\cdot w<2775 \end{gathered}$

Now we should divide both sides by 15.

$\begin{gathered} \frac{15\cdot w}{15}<\frac{2775}{15} \\ w<185 \end{gathered}$

The mean weight of the 15 people must be less than 185 pounds.