Deon wants to earn at least $43 trimming trees. He charges $8 per hour and pays $5 in equipment fees. What are the possible numbers of hours Deon could trim trees? Use t for the number of hours. Write your answer as an inequality solved for t.
Deon earns $8 per hour and pays $5 in equipment fees. So his earning per hour after deducting equipment fees is $8 - $5 = $<<8-5=3>>3.
To earn at least $43, Deon would need to work t hours. So the inequality representing this is:
3t ≥ 43
Dividing both sides of the inequality by 3:
t ≥ 43/3
Simplifying the division, we find:
t ≥ 14.33
Therefore, Deon could trim trees for at least 15 hours to earn at least $43.