Lesson 5
Efficiently Solving Inequalities
Let’s solve more complicated inequalities.
5.1: Lots of Negatives
Here is an inequality: \text-x \geq \text-4.
- Predict what you think the solutions on the number line will look like.
- Select all the values that are solutions to \text-x \geq \text-4:
- 3
- -3
- 4
- -4
- 4.001
- -4.001
- Graph the solutions to the inequality on the number line:
5.2: Inequalities with Tables
-
Let's investigate the inequality x-3>\text-2.
x -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 x-3 -7 -5 -1 1 - Complete the table.
- For which values of x is it true that x - 3 = \text-2?
- For which values of x is it true that x - 3 > \text-2?
- Graph the solutions to x - 3 > \text-2
on the number line:
-
Here is an inequality: 2x<6.
- Predict which values of x will make the inequality 2x < 6 true.
-
Complete the table. Does it match your prediction?
x -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 2x -
Graph the solutions to 2x < 6 on the number line:
-
Here is an inequality: \text-2x<6.
- Predict which values of x will make the inequality \text-2x < 6 true.
-
Complete the table. Does it match your prediction?
x -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 \text-2x - Graph the solutions to \text-2x < 6 on the number
line:
- How are the solutions to 2x<6 different from the solutions to \text-2x<6?
5.3: Which Side are the Solutions?
- Let’s investigate \text-4x + 5 \geq 25.
- Solve \text-4x+5 = 25.
- Is \text-4x + 5 \geq 25 true when x is 0? What about when x is 7? What about when x is -7?
- Graph the solutions to \text-4x + 5 \geq 25
on the number line.
- Let's investigate \frac{4}{3}x+3 < \frac{23}{3}.
- Solve \frac43x+3 = \frac{23}{3}.
- Is \frac{4}{3}x+3 < \frac{23}{3} true when x is 0?
-
Graph the solutions to \frac{4}{3}x+3 < \frac{23}{3} on the number line.
- Solve the inequality 3(x+4) > 17.4
and graph the solutions on the number line.
- Solve the inequality \text-3\left(x-\frac43\right) \leq 6
and graph the solutions on the number line.
Write at least three different inequalities whose solution is x > \text-10. Find one with x on the left side that uses a <.
Summary
Here is an inequality: 3(10-2x) < 18. The solution to this inequality is all the values you could use in place of x to make the inequality true.
In order to solve this, we can first solve the related equation 3(10-2x) = 18 to get the solution x = 2. That means 2 is the boundary between values of x that make the inequality true and values that make the inequality false.
To solve the inequality, we can check numbers greater than 2 and less than 2 and see which ones make the inequality true.
Let’s check a number that is greater than 2: x= 5. Replacing x with 5 in the inequality, we get 3(10-2 \boldcdot 5) < 18 or just 0 < 18. This is true, so x=5 is a solution. This means that all values greater than 2 make the inequality true. We can write the solutions as x > 2 and also represent the solutions on a number line:
Notice that 2 itself is not a solution because it's the value of x that makes 3(10-2x) equal to 18, and so it does not make 3(10-2x) < 18 true.
For confirmation that we found the correct solution, we can also test a value that is less than 2. If we test x=0, we get 3(10-2 \boldcdot 0) < 18 or just 30 < 18. This is false, so x = 0 and all values of x that are less than 2 are not solutions.
Glossary Entries
- solution to an inequality
A solution to an inequality is a number that can be used in place of the variable to make the inequality true.
For example, 5 is a solution to the inequality c<10, because it is true that 5<10. Some other solutions to this inequality are 9.9, 0, and -4.