Fiona has $18 to spend. She spent $4.25, including tax, to buy a notebook. She needs to save $9.75, but she wants to buy a snack. If crackers cost $0.50 per package including tax, what inequality would show the maximum number of packages that Fiona can buy? Solve your inequality by showing your work and steps
Let's call the maximum number of packages that Fiona can buy "x".
The cost of each package of crackers is $0.50, including tax.
So the total cost of x packages of crackers will be $0.50 * x.
We know that Fiona has already spent $4.25 and needs to save $9.75.
Therefore, she has $18 - $4.25 - $9.75 = $4 left to spend on snacks.
We want to find the maximum number of packages of crackers that Fiona can buy with this remaining $4.
The inequality that represents this situation is:
0.50x ≤ 4
To solve this inequality, we divide both sides by 0.50:
x ≤ 4 / 0.50
x ≤ 8
Therefore, the maximum number of packages of crackers that Fiona can buy is 8.