how do i do inequalitys

Question

12x>5

Answer 1

Inequalities have rules different from equations, but once you learn them, the calculations are easy.

 

(a) you may add or subtract any value from both sides of the inequality and it remains that inequality.  For example:

     if x>2   then x+2>4    also, if x>2   then  x-1>1    [the ">" is not changed]

 

(b) if you multiply or divide both sides by a positive value, the same inequality remains; but, if you multiply by a negative value the inequality is reversed   (note: when combined with '>' or '<," the "reverse" of '=' is '=').

     if x≥2 then 2x≥4     also, if  -x≤2   then  2x≥-4

 

It is pretty easy to put in a sample number for x and check these expressions.

 

The problem gives   12x>5

 

Using rule (b), you can divide both sides by 12 and the "greater than" will remain "greater than"

                      x > 5/12

Answer 2

For algebraic inequalities, you want to start by treating it as an equation. The inequality (this is the <,>,=,=) only needs to be reversed when multiplying or dividing both sides by a negative value.\n We'll use your example, here. Since there are no negatives involved in the equation, we don't need to worry about changing the inequality. We'll just treat this as an equation and look at the inequality once we have a value to work with. 12x > 5 Divide both sides by 12 to get the "x" alone. x > 5/12 This means that "x" can be any number bigger than 5/12, but it cannot be 5/12.