How do you solve -9 <= -3x+15 <= 12?

1 Answer
May 11, 2018

-9<=-3x+15<=12 when 1<=x<=8

Explanation:

Let us start with a graph of the inequality:
enter image source here

If we define f(x)=-3x+15 we are interested in the value area for x that will give values of f(x) between -9 and 15, which is the shaded area on the graph.
Reading directly on the graph, we see that 1<=x<=8 fulfills the inequality.

Mathematically we would solve it by treating the two inequalities separately:
-9<=f(x)=-3x+15
Add 3x+9 on both sides:
3x<=15+9=24
x<=8 This is the upper limit of the area.

The lower:
f(x)=-3x+15<=12
Add 3x-12 on both sides to move 3x to one side and the constants to the other:
15-12=3<=3x
This gives x>=1

The values for x fulfilling the inequality is, therefore
1<=x<=8

Which is what we could read directly from the graph.