Solving inequalities

Inequalities are mathematical expressions involving the symbols >, <, ≥ and ≤. To ‘solve’ an
inequality means to find a range, or ranges, of values that an unknown x can take and still satisfy the
inequality.

The expression 5x − 4 > 2x + 3 looks like an equation but with the equals sign replaced by an
arrowhead. It is an example of an inequality. This denotes that the part on the left, 5x − 4, is greater than the
part on the right, 2x + 3. We will be interested in finding the values of x for which the inequality is true.

> is greater than

≥ is greater than or equal to
< is less than
≤ is less than or equal to

Exercise: Draw the line to represent each equation or inequalities

1. x + 3 =7

2. x2 = 16

3. x -6 > 0

4. x+ 3<4

5. x+5 ≥ 5

6. x-1 ≤ -4
7. -2 ≤ x ≤ 3

8. 0 < x≤3

9. -1 ≤ x <2

10. -3 < x < 3

11. x≠ 0

12. x = -1, -2, -3

13. x< -2 or x > 2

14. x≤ -1 or x ≥ 3
Exercise: Write an inequality to represent each interval, and state whether the interval is bounded or
unbounded.

Exercise: Solve each inequality (Easy)

1. x+ 5 ≥ 12 2. 10 - a > 12

3. y
2 -1 ≤ 5 4. x
4 +2≥7

5. 3(m-1) < 18 6. x 1
2 ≥ 7
7. b+ 4 < 2b - 1 8. x 1
8
≠ 14

9. 5n - 3 > 1
3
n-2 10. 0.7 a ≠ 0.3 a +
2

11. 4x - 3 ≥ 6x - 5 12. 3x - 2
5
≤ 5x + 3
5

13. 16
3
x -7 < 5x - 8 14. 7
14
x +7 > 2x + 13
2

15. x- 2 ≤ 10 + 1
2 x 16. 3
2 x+ 3 ≥ x-2

17. 9
7 x+ 2< 2
7 x+ 5 18. 8 - 3(1 + 2x) > 0

19. 5(4x - 53 ) ≤ 17 (x - 1) + 2 20. 5(x - 1) ≠ 2(3 x-4)

Exercise: Solve each inequality (Intermediate)

1. 2x - 7 > 45 2. -2x - 10 > 5x + 4

3. 2(x -15) ≤ -(3x + 5) 4. 2

3
x≥ x +5

5. 24 x - 4.5 < 15(x + 0.3) 6. 3

8
x +2≠ 3
2
x +2

7. x 1
4
≥8 8. 2
3
(2x + 1) ≤ 16 (10x - 3)

9. 3( m27 ) ≤ -2 ( m36 ) 10. 5(x-11) + 2

3
< 2 (x - 4) + 1

11. 3x2
2 - 7 ≠ x-8 12. 2 x + 3 x ≠ 4 x + 5 x
13. x
6
+ 12 <
1
3 - 2x 14. 1
3 (2x - 1) > 3
5
x

15. 1
4
( x + 4) > 13 (x + 1) 16. 1
2
(2 - x) > 14 (3 - x) + 1
2

17. x2
4 + 2
3
< x4
6 18. x 1
2
+ 3 x 1
4
< 3 x 1
4
+2

19. 3x4
5
- x 1
3
> 1- x 5
3 20. 1
6
(2 - x) - 3 ≥ x
10

21. 1
3 ( x + 2) ≥ 2
3 + 1
4 ( x - 1) 22. 4
3 (2x + 3) ≥ 10 - 4x
3
23. 4 ( 3x + 34 ) ≥ 3 ( 2x - 5) 24. 1
4
( 10 x75 + 6) < 23 ( x - 4)

Exercise: Solve each inequality

1. 2x + 5 < 15 and 3x - 2 > - 8

2. 3x + 2 ≤x+ 10 and 3x - 10 > 26 - 9x

3. 1
2 x-4 > 1
3 x and 1
6 x +1> 1
8 x +3

4. 20 - 2x > 2x + 4 > 1 -x 5. 2x - 3 < x+ 3 <

3x + 8

6. 1
2 x+ 6 ≤ 1
4 x+ 10 ≤ x+ 5
Word Problem
1) Elisa won 40 lollipops playing basketball at the school fair. She gave two to every student in her math
class. She has at least 7 lollipops left.
a) Write an inequality to represent the situation. Be sure to define your variable.
b) Solve the inequality to find the maximum number of students in her class.

2) More than 450 students went on a field trip. Ten buses were filled and 5 more students traveled in a car.
a) Write an inequality to represent the situation. Be sure to define your variable.
b) Solve the inequality to find the minimum number of people on each bus.

3) Bill spent less than $26 on a magazine and five composition books. The magazine cost $4.
a) Write an inequality to represent the situation. Be sure to define your variable.
b) Solve the inequality to find the maximum cost of each composition book.

4) Amanda rented a bike from Shawna's Bikes. They charged her $2 per hour, plus a $10 fee. Amanda paid
less than $27.
a) Write an inequality to represent the situation. Be sure to define your variable.
b) Solve the inequality to find the maximum number of hours Amanda rented the bike.
5) You need to buy some pencils and an eraser. You can spend no more than $5. The eraser costs $1 and
the pencils cost $0.25 each.
a) Write an inequality to represent the situation. Be sure to define your variable.
b) Solve the inequality to find the maximum number of pencils you can buy.

6) Mark's Canoes rents canoes for $20 plus $35 per hour. You do not want to spend more than $150. For
how many hours can you afford to rent the canoe?
a) Write an inequality to represent the situation. Be sure to define your variable.
b) Solve the inequality and answer the question.

7) For a field trip 18 students rode in cars and the rest filled five buses. How many students were in each bus
if
no more than 250 students went on the trip?
a) Write an inequality to represent the situation. Be sure to define your variable.
b) Solve the inequality and answer the question.

8) Charles is saving $5 each week. He earns an extra $15 by mowing his neighbor's lawn. How many weeks
will he need to save in order to have at least $75?
a) Write an inequality to represent the situation. Be sure to define your variable.
b) Solve the inequality and answer the question.
 Inequalities used with a modulus symbol

Inequalities often appear in conjunction with the modulus, or absolute value symbol | |, for example,
in a statement such as
|x| < 2
Recall that the modulus of a number is simply its magnitude, or absolute value, regardless of its sign.
So |2| = 2 and | − 2| = 2
Returning to |x| < 2, if the absolute value of x is less than 2, then this means that x must lie between 2
and −2. We can write this as −2 < x < 2.
If |x| ≥ 5 this means that the absolute value of x must be greater than or equal to 5. This means that x
can be greater than or equal to 5, or can be less than or equal to −5. We write x ≤ −5 or x ≥ 5

Example
Suppose we wish to solve
|x − 4| < 3
The modulus sign means that the absolute value of x − 4 is less than 3. This means that
−3 < x − 4 < 3
1<x<7
Exercise
Solve the following inequalities
1) |x| ≤ 3 2) |x| > 6

3) |x − 4| ≤ 3 4) |x − 2| ≤ 5

5) |x + 1| < 3 6) |x + 4| ≥ 2

7) |3 − x| > 1 8) |x + 1| ≤ 0
 𝑥−3 2𝑥
9) | |≥4 10) |1 − |<1
2 3

11) |9 − 2𝑥| − 2 < −1 12) |𝑥 + 14| + 3 > 17

13) 2|𝑥 + 10| ≥ 9 14) 3|4 − 5𝑥| ≤ 9

 Quadratic inequalities

Suppose we wish to solve x2 − 3x + 2 > 0.

The quadratic expression on the left will factorize to give (x − 2)(x − 1) > 0. If this was a quadratic
equation we would simply state x − 2 = 0 and x − 1 = 0 and hence x = 2 and x = 1. Unfortunately with
inequalities the situation is more complicated and we have a bit more work to do.

Example
Suppose we wish to solve the inequality −2x2 + 5x + 12 ≥ 0.
It will be easier to deal with this if the coefficient of x2 is positive rather than negative and so we
multiply every term by −1 remembering to reverse the inequality.
The problem then is to solve 2x2 − 5x − 12 ≤ 0.
The quadratic expression can be factorized to give (2x + 3)(x − 4) ≤ 0.

Exercises: Solve the following quadratic inequalities

1) (x − 3)(x + 1) < 0 2) x2 + 5x + 6 ≥ 0

3) (2x − 1)(3x + 4) > 0 4) 10x2 − 19x + 6 ≤ 0

5) 5 − 4x − x2 > 0 6) 1 − x − 2x2 < 0

Problems: Linear Inequalities (Intermediate Level)
𝑥−2
1. Solve >2
𝑥+5

2. Solve 1 ≤ |x –2 | ≤ 3

3. The cost and revenue functions of a product are given by C(x) = 20 x + 4000 and R(x) = 60x + 2000,
respectively, wherex is the number of items produced and sold. How many items must be sold to realise
some profit?

4. Solve for x, |𝑥 + 1| + |𝑥| > 3

 |𝑥+1|+𝑥
5. Solve for x, >1
𝑥+2

6. Solve the following system of inequalities

7. State which of the following statements is True or False
𝑥 𝑦
(i) If x < y and b < 0, then 𝑏 < 𝑏.

(ii) If xy > 0, then x > 0 and y < 0

(iii) If xy > 0, then x < 0 and y < 0

(iv) If xy < 0, then x < 0 and y < 0

(v) If x < –5 and x < –2, then x ∈ (– ∞, – 5)

(vi) If x < –5 and x > 2, then x ∈ (– 5, 2)

(vii) If x > –2 and x < 9, then x ∈ (– 2, 9)

(viii) If | x| > 5, then x ∈ (– ∞, – 5) ∪ [5, ∞)

(ix) If | x| ≤ 4, then x ∈ [– 4, 4]

8. The longest side of a triangle is twice the shortest side and the third side is 2cm longer than the shortest
side. If the perimeter of the triangle is more than 166 cm then find the minimum length of the shortest side.

9. In drilling world’s deepest hole it was found that the temperature T in degree celcius, x km below the
earth’s surface was given by T = 30 + 25 (x – 3), 3 ≤ x ≤ 15. At what depth will the temperature be between
155°C and 205°C?
10. The water acidity in a pool is considerd normal when the average pH reading of three daily
measurements is between 8.2 and 8.5. If the first two pH readings are 8.48 and 8.35, find the range of pH
value for the third reading that will result in the acidity level being normal.

11. A solution of 9% acid is to be diluted by adding 3% acid solution to it. The resulting mixture is to be
more than 5% but less than 7% acid. If there is 460 litres of the 9% solution, how many litres of 3% solution
will have to be added?

12. The length of a rectangle is three times the breadth. If the minimum perimeter of the rectangle is 160 cm,
then
(A) breadth > 20 cm (B) length < 20 cm
(C) breadth x ≥ 20 cm (D) length ≤ 20 cm