Question

Tatiana wants to give friendship bracelets to her 32 classmates. She already has 5 bracelets, and she can buy more bracelets in packages of 4. Let p represent the number of packages. Write an inequality to determine the number of packages Tatiana needs to buy. What is the minimum whole number of packages Tatiana needs to buy?

Answer 1

So she already has 5 bracelets, so she needs 27 more (32-5=27) The minimum packages she would need to get would be 7 (4×7=28) because 4 can't go into 27. 

The answer is 7.

Answer 2

Since we already have 5 bracelets...we will  place +5 in the inequality. P will equal the number of packets needed and the number attached to the P is the number which comes in the packet (4)

4P + 5 ≥ 32          (subtract 5 from each side)
4P ≥ 27                (divide by 4)
P ≥ 6.75      The minimum packets needed are 7