A lumber supplier sells 96-inch pieces of oak. Each piece must be within ¼ of an inch of 96 inches. Write and solve an inequality to show acceptable lengths.

Step-by-step explanation:

Given that a lumber supplier sells 96 inch Pieces of oak which must be within 1/4 of an inch.

This situation can be represented by the following absolute value inequality:

.

The absolute value can be thought of as the size of something because length cannot be negative. The length must be no more than 1/4 away from 96.

To simplify this, pretend this is a standard equality, |x-96| = 1/4. 1/4 is the range of acceptable length, 96 is the median of the range, and x is the size of the wood.

First apply the rule |x| = y → x = y

|x-96| = 1/4

x - 96 = 1/4

x =

(These are just the minimum, and maximum sizes)

Now with a less than or equal to, the solutions are now everything included between these two values.

Therefore:

With less than inequalities, you must have the lower value on the left, and the higher value on the right.

If x represents the size of the pieces, then the acceptable lengths are represented by this following inequality:

This is interpreted as x (being the size of the oak) is greater than or equal to 95 3/4, and less than or equal to 96 1/4 in inches.