Reasoning to Solve

Lesson
4 Equations and Inequalities
In earlier work in this unit, you modeled situations with several variables and
equations. For example, suppose you were given business plans for a concert
showing how operating cost and ticket sale income were expected to relate to
ticket price x.
Cost: C(x) = 22,500 – 100x
Income: I(x) = 2,500x – 50x2
A graph of those two functions looks like this:

40,000
Concert Ticket Income
and Operating Cost

30,000

20,000

10,000

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Concert Ticket Price

Think About This Situation

Questions important to planning the concert can be answered by solving
equations and inequalities involving the cost and income functions.
a What would you learn from solutions of the following?
■ I(x) = C(x) ■ I(x) > C(x) ■ I(x) < C(x)
b How would you solve the equation and inequalities in Part a using the
following tools?
■ Technology
■ Reasoning about the symbolic function rules (without the help of
calculator tables or graphs)

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INVESTIGATION 1 Reasoning about Linear Equations and
Inequalities
Situations involving comparison of business plans often involve linear functions,
leading to questions requiring the solution of linear equations and inequalities.
For example, a pizza company considering lease options for a delivery truck
might have choices like those shown below. In each case, the lease cost (in dol-
lars) is a function of lease time (in weeks).
Plan A: A(t) = 2,500 + 75t
Plan B: B(t) = 1,000 + 90t
1. What do the numbers 2,500 and 1,000 tell about the conditions of each lease?
What do the numbers 75 and 90 tell?
2. At the start, Plan A is more expensive than Plan B. To see when the lease costs
might be equal, you could solve the equation 2,500 + 75t = 1,000 + 90t. One
way to solve that equation is to reason like this:
2,500 + 75t = 1,000 + 90t
1,500 + 75t = 90t
1,500 = 15t
100 = t
a. Justify each step in the solution process.
b. How can you check that t = 100 is the solution? What does t = 100 tell about
the truck-lease plans?
c. How could you arrive at the same result with a different sequence of steps?
3. Now, consider the inequality 2,500 + 75t < 1,000 + 90t.
a. What will a solution to this inequality tell about the truck-leasing situation?
b. Why does each step in the following reasoning make sense?
2,500 + 75t < 1,000 + 90t
2,500 < 1,000 + 15t
1,500 < 15t
100 < t
c. What does the solution 100 < t tell about the truck-leasing situation?
d. How can you check the solution?
e. Use similar reasoning to solve the inequality 2,500 + 75t > 1,000 + 90t, and
explain what the solution tells about the truck-leasing situation.

226 UNIT 3 • SYMBOL SENSE AND ALGEBRAIC REASONING

 In solving the equations and inequalities that compare two truck-lease plans, it is
helpful to keep in mind what the parts of each expression mean. Now try to use
similar reasoning patterns to solve equations and inequalities without such clues.
4. Solve each of the following equations by symbolic reasoning alone. Record
each step in your reasoning. Check your solutions.
a. 2x + 15 = 45 + x
b. 10 – 4x = 3x – 4
c. 7x – 11 = 10
d. –6x – 15 = 4x + 10
e. 25 = 10 – 5x
5. Solve each of the following inequalities by symbolic reasoning alone. Record
each step in your reasoning. Check your answers.
a. 3x + 10 < 14 b. 13 + 5x > 23
c. 8x + 12 < 46 d. 80 + 6x > 200
6. Here are three solutions of inequalities that lead to incorrect results. In each
case, show with function tables or graphs that the proposed solutions are not
correct. Then find and correct the error in the reasoning process.
a. Solve: 5x + 20 < 3x
20 < –2x
–10 < x
b. Solve: 11x – 19 < 15x + 17
11x < 15x + 36
– 4x < 36
x < –9
c. Solve: 10 + 9x < 3x – 8
18 + 9x < 3x
18 < –6x
–3 < x
7. Solve each of the following inequalities by symbolic reasoning alone. Show
each step in your reasoning. Check your answers.
a. 3x + 10 < 5x + 4
b. 23 – 5x > 7x – 13
c. 8x + 12 < 46 – 9x
d. 80 + 6x > 21x – 15

L E S S O N 4 • R E A S O N I N G T O S O LV E E Q UAT I O N S A N D I N E Q UA L I T I E S 227
 Two equations or inequalities are called equivalent if they have identical solu-
tions. One strategy for solving linear equations and inequalities is to start with the
given equation or inequality and construct a sequence of simpler forms, each
equivalent to its predecessor, until you get an equation or inequality so simple
that the solution is obvious. The challenge is to find ways of writing equivalent
equations and inequalities that do become progressively simpler.
8. Which of the following pairs of equations and inequalities are equivalent?
Explain your reasoning in each case.
a. 3x + 2 = 5 and 3x = 3
b. 7x – 8 = 12 + 3x and 4x = 20
1
c. x +9=6 and x + 9 = 18
3
d. 10x + 15 = 35 and 2x + 3 = 7
e. 10x + 15 = 35 and 10x = 20
f. 3x + 2 < 5 and 3x < 3
g. 7x – 8 > 12 + 3x and 4x > 20
h. 10x + 15 < 35 and 2x + 3 < 7
i. 10x + 15 > 35 and 10x > 20
9. Look back over the pairs of equations and inequalities in Activity 8 and your
answers to the equivalence question. What operations on equations and
inequalities seem likely to produce simpler equivalent forms?

Checkpoint
Many situations call for comparing two linear functions like the following:
f(x) = a + bx g(x) = c + dx
a What overall strategy and specific reasoning steps would you use to
solve an equation of the form a + bx = c + dx? Explain how you could
check the solution.
b What overall strategy and specific reasoning steps would you use to
solve an inequality of the form a + bx < c + dx? How could you check
the answer?
c How do the graphs of expressions like y = a + bx and y = c + dx illus-
trate solutions to the equations and inequalities described in Parts a and
b? How would those solutions appear in tables of values for the two
functions?
Be prepared to explain your strategies and reasoning to
the entire class.

228 UNIT 3 • SYMBOL SENSE AND ALGEBRAIC REASONING

 On Your Own
Two cellular telephone service plans offer monthly costs (in dollars) that are
functions of time used (in minutes) with the following rules:
B(t) = 35 + 0.30t
C(t) = 25 + 0.50t
Write and solve (without use of technology) equations and inequalities that help
in answering these questions:
a. Under what conditions will Plan B cost less than Plan C?
b. Under what conditions will Plan B cost the same as Plan C?
c. Under what conditions will Plan C cost less than Plan B?
In each case, show how you can use a calculator to check your solutions.

INVESTIGATION 2 Reasoning about Quadratic Equations

and Inequalities
Two key questions are often associated with quadratic function models of the
form f(x) = ax2 + bx + c:
■ What is the maximum (minimum) value and where does it occur?
■ For what values of the input variable x will f(x) = 0?
In the case of the concert-planning model described at the start of this lesson, the
quadratic income function was I(x) = 2,500x – 50x2. The two key questions can
be stated in this way:
■ What ticket price will lead to maximum projected income from ticket
sales?
■ What ticket prices will produce no projected ticket income at all?
You can answer both questions by scanning a table or graph of (x, I(x)) values.
But you can also get the answers easily by using algebraic reasoning.
1. Justify each step in the following analysis of the concert-income situation.
a. Solving the equation 2,500x – 50x2 = 0 will help.
b. The equation in Part a is equivalent to 50x(50 – x) = 0.
c. 50x(50 – x) = 0 when x = 0 or when x = 50.
d. The maximum income will occur when x = 25.
e. That income is $31,250.

L E S S O N 4 • R E A S O N I N G T O S O LV E E Q UAT I O N S A N D I N E Q UA L I T I E S 229
 2. Unfortunately, many quadratic equations are not easy to solve using the type
of factoring that worked so well in Activity 1. For example, consider the prob-
lem of finding projected break-even prices for the planned concert. Those are
the prices for which income from ticket sales will equal expenses for operat-
ing costs. Since the cost equation for this situation was C(x) = 22,500 – 100x,
this problem requires solving the equation 2,500x – 50x2 = 22,500 – 100x.
a. You can start by writing an equivalent equation with a quadratic expression
equal to 0:
–50x2 + 2,600x – 22,500 = 0
Why is this equation equivalent to the original?
b. Factor the left side of this equation to get –50(x2 – 52x + 450) = 0. Why is
this factored form equivalent to the equation in Part a?
The form of the equation given in Part b does not look easy to continue to solve
by factoring!
There is another way you can solve quadratic equations, even when factoring
seems impossible. You can use the quadratic formula. If ax2 + bx + c = 0
(and a ≠ 0), then the roots of the equation are
2
x = – 2ba ± b – 4ac

2a
or, writing these separately,
2 
2 
x = – 2ba + b – 4ac b b – 4ac
 and x = –  – 
2a 2a 2a
(You’ll explore a derivation of this formula in Lesson 5.)
3. Solve the break-even equation –50x2 + 2,600x – 22,500 = 0 using the quadratic
formula.
a. Give the values for a, b, and c.
b. Evaluate – 2b
a
.
2
b – 4ac
c. Evaluate  .
2a

2  
2 
d. Now calculate x = – 2ba
+ b – 4ac
2a
b
 and x = –  – .
2a
b – 4ac
2a
e. Describe at least three different ways to check your calculated roots in Part d.
Check the roots in the original equation using one of those methods.
f. Use the quadratic formula to solve the equation x2 – 52x + 450 = 0.
Compare the result to the answer in Part d and explain similarities or
differences.

230 UNIT 3 • SYMBOL SENSE AND ALGEBRAIC REASONING

 4. Some computer software and some calcula- EQUATION SOLVER
tors have a “solve” feature that allows you to eqn : 0 = –50x2+2600
x – 22500
solve equations directly, if one side of the
equation is equal to 0. The procedure for
using these solving capabilities varies. You
may need to consult your manual to learn
how to use the feature.
Use the solve feature on your calculator or computer software to check your
solutions to Parts d and f of Activity 3.
5. Now consider the quadratic equation x2 – 6x + 5 = 0. A graph of the function
f(x) = x2 – 6x + 5 is shown below.
5
4
3
2
1
0
–1 1 2 3 4 5
–2
–3
–4
–5

a. Give the values for a, b, and c that should be used to solve x2 – 6x + 5 = 0

with the quadratic formula.
b. Evaluate – 2ba .
2
b – 4ac
c. Evaluate  .
2a
 
2  
2 
d. Now calculate x = – 2ba + b – 4ac b b – 4ac
 and x = –  – .
2a 2a 2a
e. Compare the quadratic formula calculations to the graph of f(x) = x2 – 6x + 5.
What information is provided by the expression – 2ba? By the expression
b
2 
– 4ac
?
2a
6. Use the quadratic formula to solve each of the following quadratic equations.
Then try to solve the same equations by factoring. In each case, check your
work by using the solve feature on your calculator or computer software or by
substituting your proposed roots for x into the equation.
a. –2x2 – 3x + 7 = 0
b. 5x2 – x – 4 = 0
c. 3x2 – 2x + 1 = 0
d. –x2 + 2x – 3 = 0
e. 4x2 + 12x + 9 = 0

L E S S O N 4 • R E A S O N I N G T O S O LV E E Q UAT I O N S A N D I N E Q UA L I T I E S 231
 7. Now look back at your work in Activity 6 and search for connections between
the quadratic formula calculations and the graphs of the corresponding func-
tion rules.
■ Explain the special significance of the equation x = – 2ba for a quadratic
function with rule in the form f(x) = ax2 + bx + c.
2
b – 4ac
■ What information is provided by the expression  ?
2a
Test your ideas in each of the following cases by graphing the function and the
vertical line x = – 2ba. (If you choose to use your calculator rather than sketch-
ing your graph, consult your manual as needed.)
a. f(x) = 2x2 + 4x – 9
b. f(x) = 3x2 – 2x – 5
c. f(x) = x2 + 6x – 10
d. f(x) = –x2 + 2x – 9
8. Think about the ways in which the graph of f(x) = ax2 + bx + c could intersect
the x-axis. How many possible roots could the equation ax2 + bx + c = 0 have?
a. Use the quadratic formula to solve each equation and identify the step that
first shows the number of roots you can expect.
■ x2 + 8x + 12 = 0
■ x2 + 8x + 16 = 0
■ x2 + 8x + 20 = 0
b. Sketch graphs of the quadratic functions corresponding to the three equa-
tions above, and explain how those graphs show the number of roots in each
case.
9. Suppose that f(x), g(x), j(x), and h(x) are quadratic functions with the zeroes
indicated below. Find values of x for which each of these functions would have
maximum or minimum values. Then write possible rules for the functions in
factored form.
a. f(6) = 0 and f(–2) = 0
b. g(–7) = 0 and g(3) = 0
c. j(–2) = 0 and j(–5) = 0
d. h(2) = 0 and h(4.5) = 0
10. Explain how the quadratic formula can help you determine the minimum value
of the function f(x) = 4x2 – 7x – 10.

232 UNIT 3 • SYMBOL SENSE AND ALGEBRAIC REASONING

 11. The quadratic formula and other equation-
15
solving methods can be used to solve quadratic 10
inequalities as well. Examine the graph of the 5
function f(x) = 2x2 – 5x – 12 at the right. It has –3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3 4 5
–5
zeroes at x = –1.5 and x = 4. –10
–15
a. Explain how the number line graph below
shows the solution of the quadratic inequal-
ity 2x2 – 5x – 12 < 0.

–3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

b. How does the number line graph in Part a relate to the graph of the function
f(x) = 2x2 – 5x – 12?
c. Make a number line graph showing the solution of the quadratic inequality
2x2 – 5x – 12 > 0.
d. How would you modify the number line graph in Part c to show the solu-
tion of the inequality 2x2 – 5x – 12 ≥ 0?
12. Using Activity 11 as an example, if needed, solve the following quadratic
inequalities.
a. x2 – x – 6 < 0 b. x2 – x – 6 > 0
c. –x2 + 5x + 6 > 0 d. –2x2 – 3x + 5 < 0
e. x2 – 8x + 16 ≤ 0 f. x2 – 8x + 16 > 0

Checkpoint
Quadratic functions, with graphs that are parabolas, can be written with sym-
bolic rules in the form f(x) = ax2 + bx + c. You have learned to solve the relat-
ed quadratic equations ax2 + bx + c = 0 using the quadratic formula.
a Explain the steps that you would take to determine the zeroes and the
minimum value of the function f(x) = 3x2 – 2x – 8.
b What are the advantages and disadvantages of solving quadratic equa-
tions by factoring? By using the quadratic formula? By using the solve
feature of your calculator or computer software?
c How can you use the quadratic formula or the solve feature to find a
factored form of a quadratic function rule?
d How does use of the quadratic formula show whether a given equation
will have 2, 1, or 0 roots? How will this information appear in a graph?
Be prepared to share your methods and thinking with the
class.

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 On Your Own
Use what you have learned about the quadratic formula to complete the follow-
ing tasks.
a. Find the zeroes and the lines of symmetry for the graphs of the following func-
tions.
■ f(x) = x2 – 4x + 1
■ g(x) = x2 + 6x – 11
■ h(x) = x2 – 24
b. For each of the following functions, find the minimum or maximum value of
the function.
■ f(x) = x2 – 3x + 9
■ g(x) = –x2 + 8x + 2
■ h(x) = x2 – 49
c. Graph solutions for these quadratic inequalities:
■ x2 – 3x – 4 > 0
■ x2 + x – 6 < 0
■ –x2 – 2x + 3 > 0

234 UNIT 3 • SYMBOL SENSE AND ALGEBRAIC REASONING