Big Ideas Math Integrated I, 2016
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Big Ideas Math Integrated I, 2016 View details
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Exercise 15 Page 97

Solve for x and consider all possible values of a, b, c, and d, including 0, positive values, and negative values.

See solution.

Practice makes perfect

Before we can think about the possible solution sets for x, let's simplify our inequality a little bit so that x is as isolated as possible.

ax+b
ax
ax-cx
x(a-c)

We cannot go any further just yet. What if a-c=0? What if a-c is a negative number? There are actually four cases we need to consider for this inequality. First case: &a = c and d > b Second case: &a = c and d < b Third case: &a > c Fourth case: &a < c

Let's look at these cases one at a time.

First Case

In the first case, we should consider when a=c and d>b. When a=c we have a-c=0.

x(a-c)
x* 0
0

With the assumption that d>b we must have that d-b is always a positive number. Therefore, we have 0

Second Case

In the second case, we should consider when a=c and d

x(a-c)
x* 0
0

With the assumption that d

Third Case

In the third case, we should consider when a>c. When a>c, we must have that a-c will always be a positive number in which case we can simply divide and keep the inequality symbol as it is.

x(a-c)
x

Our solution set is then all values such that x

Fourth Case

In the fourth case, we should consider when a

x(a-c)
x>d-b/a-c

Our solution set is then all values such that x>d-b/a-c