Inequality word problem

Question

At the R.R. Engineering Company, the average starting salary for a new engineer is $63,700, but the actual salary could differ from the average by as much as $2,430. Write the absolute value equation or inequality that best represents this situation.

 

Answer 1

Absolute value can be interpreted as the distance from a number. So the persons actual salary can be either 2430 above the average or 2430 less than the average.

 

So if the average is 63,700 , and your salary is x, the distance between the two is given by

⌈ x-63700 ⌉ and the distance between these two number has to be less than or equal to 2430. So you get

⌈ x-63700 ⌉ <= 2430.

 

Hope this helped.