Amanda, Barney, Colin, Diana, and Erika are going to a baseball game. They have a total budget of $100.00 to spend. Each game ticket costs $17.00 and each drink costs $2.50. The inequality below relates x, the number of drinks the 5 friends could buy in all, with their ticket costs and budget. 5(17) + 2.50x ≤ 100. In your own words, tell what the 5 in the inequality represents.

the number of game tickets that could be bought

Explanation:

Let x represent the number of drinks. Since each drink costs $2.50, therefore the total cost for drinks = 2.5x.

Each game ticket cost $17. Let y represent the number of tickets bought, therefore the total cost for tickets = 17y.

Given that the total budget = $100, hence:

total cost for drinks +  total cost for tickets ≤ 100

17y + 2.50x ≤ 100    (1)

Given the equation:

5(17) + 2.50x ≤ 100   (2)

comparing equation 1 and 2, we get that y = 5. Hence 5 represents the number of tickets bought