Malia bought a block of wax to make candles. She used 3.5 pounds of the wax to make vanilla-scented can and has less than 5 pounds of wax left to make orange-scented candles.Malia bought a block of wax to make candles.Let x represent the weight of the block of wax originally. Which inequality describes the problem?
[ Select ]The solution x tells us that the block originally weighed less than [ Select]
5 pounds
The inequality that describes the problem is:
x - 3.5 < 5
The solution x tells us that the block originally weighed less than 8.5 pounds.
To determine the inequality that describes the problem, let's break down the information given:
- Malia used 3.5 pounds of wax to make vanilla-scented candles.
- Malia has less than 5 pounds of wax left to make the orange-scented candles.
Let x represent the weight of the block of wax originally.
From the first statement, we know that the weight of wax used for vanilla-scented candles is 3.5 pounds. This means that Malia's remaining wax after making vanilla-scented candles is x - 3.5 pounds.
From the second statement, we know that the remaining wax is less than 5 pounds. So we have the inequality:
x - 3.5 < 5
This inequality states that the weight of the block of wax originally, x, is less than 5 pounds more than the weight used for vanilla-scented candles (3.5 pounds).
Therefore, the inequality that describes the problem is:
x - 3.5 < 5