SOLUTION: At an amusement park, riders must be at least 48 inches tall to ride the Night Eagle roller coaster. Keenan has grown 1.5 inches since last summer, but he is still too short to rid

Algebra ->  Percentage-and-ratio-word-problems -> SOLUTION: At an amusement park, riders must be at least 48 inches tall to ride the Night Eagle roller coaster. Keenan has grown 1.5 inches since last summer, but he is still too short to rid      Log On


   



Question 1174502: At an amusement park, riders must be at least 48 inches tall to ride the Night Eagle roller coaster. Keenan has grown 1.5 inches since last summer, but he is still too short to ride.
Let x represent how tall Keenan was last summer. Which inequality describes the problem?
Solve the inequality. Then, complete the sentence to describe the solution.
Keenan was less than
inches tall last summer.

Answer by math_tutor2020(3817) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

x = Keenan's height last summer. This height is in inches
For example, writing x = 45 means he was 45 inches last summer.

If he was x inches last summer, and has since grown an additional 1.5 inches up to this current point in time, then his total height is x+1.5 inches.

Unfortunately for him, he's still too short to ride the roller coaster. The conditons state "riders must be at least 48 inches tall to ride the Night Eagle roller coaster". The phrasing "at least 48 inches" means "you must be 48 inches or taller". So if his height is equal to 48 inches, or larger than 48 inches, then he can ride the roller coaster. Otherwise, he cannot ride it.

But since he is still too short to ride, this means the expression x+1.5 is smaller than 48

x+1.5 < 48
x+1.5-1.5 < 48-1.5
x < 46.5
Note how I subtracted 1.5 from both sides to isolate x.

This tells us that Keenan's height last summer was less than 46.5 inches. We don't know his exact height, but we can narrow it down a bit.

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Answers:
The inequality that describes the problem is x+1.5 < 48
Keenan's height was less than 46.5 inches last summer.