McGraw Hill Glencoe Algebra 1, 2012
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McGraw Hill Glencoe Algebra 1, 2012 View details
5. Inequalities Involving Absolute Value
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Exercise 20 Page 314

If the normal pressure of the tank is 2500 and is capable of varying by ± 500, what is the minimum pressure? What is the maximum?

{x | 2000< x< 3000}

Practice makes perfect
To calculate the difference between the normal pressure and actual pressure, we can subtract the normal pressure from the actual pressure. actual pressure-normal pressure=difference If we call the actual pressure x and substitute the given normal pressure we can specify our expression. x-2500=difference

We are told that the pressure difference should be within 500 psi. Therefore, x-2500 should be greater than - 500 and less than 500. We can express this inequality in two different ways. rr Absolute Value:& | x-2500| < 500 Compound:& - 500 < x-2500 < 500 Note that there is a third way to write this and type of compound inequality. - 500 < x-2500 and x-2500 < 500 Let's isolate x in both of these cases before recombining them to form the final solution set.

Case 1

We can isolate x in the inequality - 500 < x-2500.
- 500 < x-2500
2000< x
This inequality is true when x is greater than 2000.

Case 2

Now, we can do the same thing for x-2500 < 500.
x-2500 < 500
x< 3000
This inequality is true when x is less than 3000.

Range of Optimum Pressures

The solution to this type of compound inequality is the intersection of the solution sets. First Solution Set: 2000 < x& Second Solution Set: x& < 3000 Intersecting Solution Set: 2000< x& < 3000 The range of optimum pressures is 2000 < x < 3000. We can write this solution set in set-builder notation as follows. {x | 2000< x< 3000}