SOLUTION: I own a large truck, and my neighbor owns four small trucks that are all identical. My truck can carry a load of at least 400 pounds more than each of her trucks, but no more than

Algebra ->  Inequalities -> SOLUTION: I own a large truck, and my neighbor owns four small trucks that are all identical. My truck can carry a load of at least 400 pounds more than each of her trucks, but no more than       Log On


   



Question 1209103: I own a large truck, and my neighbor owns four small trucks that are all identical. My truck can carry a load of at least 400 pounds more than each of her trucks, but no more than 7/15 of the total load her four trucks combined can carry. Based on these facts, what is the greatest load I can be sure that my large truck can carry, in pounds?
Answer by ikleyn(52817) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
.
I own a large truck, and my neighbor owns four small trucks that are all identical.
My truck can carry a load of at least 400 pounds more than each of her trucks,
but no more than 7/15 of the total load her four trucks combined can carry.
Based on these facts, what is the greatest load I can be sure that my large truck
can carry, in pounds?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


            It is a tangled problem.
            But we will untangle it.


Let "m" be the maximum load which my  track can carry, in pounds.

Let "h" be the maximum load which every her track can carry, in pounds.



The problem says "My truck can carry a load of at least 400 pounds more than each of her trucks".

It means that this inequality is true

    m >= h + 400.    (1)



Next, the problem says "but no more than 7/15 of the total load her four trucks combined can carry".

It means this inequality is true

    m <= %287%2F15%29%2A4h.    (2)



For better visibility, let's rewrite inequalities (1) and (2) as one compound inequality

    h + 400 <= m <= %287%2F15%29%2A4h    (3)



From this inequality (3), we conclude that THIS inequality is true

    h + 400 <= %287%2F15%29%2A4h,

or, equivalently,

    h + 400 <= %2828%2F15%29%2Ah.    (4)



We can easy solve it and evaluate "h" from the bottom.  For it, collect the terms with "h" on the right side,
keeping the constant on the left side

    400 <= %2828%2F15%29%2Ah - h,

    400 <= %2813%2F15%29%2Ah,

    400%2A%2815%2F13%29 <= h,

    6000%2F13 <= h,

    4617%2F13 <= h,

    h >= 4617%2F13.


Thus,  "her" truck can carry 4617%2F13 pounds.

Hence,  "my" truck can carry 400 pounds more, i.e.  4617%2F13 + 400 = 8617%2F13 pounds.


ANSWER.  My car can carry 8617%2F13 pounds, for sure.

Thus we untangled the problem and solved it completely to the end, as I promised.