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One-step inequalities: -5c ≤ 15

In addition to solving the inequality, we'll graph the solution. Remember to swap if you mutiply both sides of the inequality by a negative number. Created by Sal Khan and Monterey Institute for Technology and Education.

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Video transcript

Solve for c and graph the solution. We have negative 5c is less than or equal to 15. So negative 5c is less than or equal to 15. I just rewrote it a little bit bigger. So if we want to solve for c, we just want to isolate the c right over here, maybe on the left-hand side. It's right now being multiplied by negative 5. So the best way to just have a c on the left-hand side is we can multiply both sides of this inequality by the inverse of negative 5, or by negative 1/5. So we want to multiply negative 1/5 times negative 5c. And we also want to multiply 15 times negative 1/5. I'm just multiplying both sides of the inequality by the inverse of negative 5, because this will cancel out with the negative 5 and leave me just with c. Now I didn't draw the inequality here, because we have to remember, if we multiply or divide both sides of an inequality by a negative number, you have to flip the inequality. And we are doing that. We are multiplying both sides by negative 1/5, which is the equivalent of dividing both sides by negative 5. So we need to turn this from a less than or equal to a greater than or equal. And now we can proceed solving for c. So negative 1/5 times negative 5 is 1. So the left-hand side is just going to be c is greater than or equal to 15 times negative 1/5. That's the same thing as 15 divided by negative 5. And so that is negative 3. So our solution is c is greater than or equal to negative 3. And let's graph it. So that is my number line. Let's say that is 0, negative 1, negative 2, negative 3. And then I could go above, 1, 2. And so c is greater than or equal to negative 3. So it can be equal to negative 3. So I'll fill that in right over there. Let me do it in a different color. So I'll fill it in right over there. And then it's greater than as well. So it's all of these values I am filling in in green. And you can verify that it works in the original inequality. Pick something that should work. Well, 0 should work. 0 is one of the numbers that we filled in. Negative 5 times 0 is 0, which is less than or equal to 15. It's less than 15. Now let's try a number that's outside of it. And I haven't drawn it here. I could continue with the number line in this direction. We would have a negative 4 here. Negative 4 should not be included. And let's verify that negative 4 doesn't work. Negative 4 times negative 5 is positive 20. And positive 20 is not less than 15, so it's good that we did not include negative 4. So this is our solution. And this is that solution graphed. And I wanted to do that in that other green color. Here you go. That's what it looks like.