Question

the santiago family shares a family cell phone plan. the plan is for 3,900 text messages each month. the mother has used 1,400 messages. the father has used at least 700 messages. the three children have used 550 messages each. write an inequality to show the number of messages the santiago family has used. explain
let ( m ) = the number of messages. then ( m )
the mother and the three children have used messages. the father has used at least 700 messages. so, the amount of messages the family has used is
(type whole numbers.)

Explanation:

Step1: Calculate the total messages used by mother and children

The mother used \(1400\) messages. Each of the three children used \(550\) messages. So the total messages used by mother and children is \(1400 + 3\times550=1400 + 1650 = 3050\)

Step2: Form the inequality

Let \(m\) be the total number of messages used by the family. The father has used at least \(700\) messages. So the total messages \(m\) is the sum of messages used by mother - children (\(3050\)) and father (\(\geq700\)). So \(m\geq3050 + 700\)

Answer:

\(m\geq3750\)