Ms. Romero is buying a scrapbook and sheets of designer paper. She has $30 and needs at least $15.75 to buy the scrapbook. Each sheet of paper costs $0.29. 30-0.29x≥15.75 to find the number of sheets of paper, x, she can buy. How many sheets of paper can she buy?

We need to solve the inequality to find what x could be

solving inequalities is similar to solving unknowns in an equation, the same set of steps are followed, except that x could be equal to the final answer or more or less than that value depending on the sign.

30-0.29x ≥ 15.75

-0.29x ≥ - 14.25

when dividing by a negative number (-0.29) the inequality side should change its direction

In this case ≥ changes to ≤

x ≤ - 14.25/-0.29

x ≤ 49.13

since they are asking for number of sheets of paper it should be the nearest whole number that is less than or equal to 49.13

since 49.13 is not a whole number we should round it off to the nearest whole number that is less than that.

x ≤ 49

she can buy maximum 49 sheets of paper and have enough money to buy the scrapbook.

49 x $ 0.29 + 15.75 = 14.21 + 15.75 = $29.96