Mrs. Scott decided that she would spend more no more than $120 to buy a jacket and a skirt.If the price of jacket was $20 more than 3 times the price of the skirt.Find the highest possible price of the skirt. I have the answer but they add another variable which is never explained and Im confused.

J = 20 = 3s
20 + 3s + s < 120
20 + 4s <= 120
-20 - 20
4s <= 100
s = 25

agree

In my opinion, this question is one of the most difficult inequality questions that I have been asked to answer. Good luck.

To find the highest possible price of the skirt, we can follow these steps:

Step 1: Set up the equation based on the given information.
We are told that the price of the jacket is $20 more than 3 times the price of the skirt. So we can write this relationship as:
J = 3s + 20

Step 2: Set up the inequality based on the spending limit.
Mrs. Scott decided to spend no more than $120, so we can write the inequality as:
J + s ≤ 120

Step 3: Substitute the value of J from the first equation into the inequality.
Substituting J = 3s + 20 into the inequality yields:
(3s + 20) + s ≤ 120

Step 4: Simplify the inequality.
Combine like terms on the left side:
4s + 20 ≤ 120

Step 5: Move the constant term to the right side of the inequality.
Subtracting 20 from both sides gives:
4s ≤ 100

Step 6: Solve for s.
Divide both sides by 4 to isolate s:
s ≤ 25

Since we are looking for the highest possible price of the skirt, the answer is s = 25. This means that the highest price Mrs. Scott could pay for the skirt is $25.