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Do you flip the inequality sign when distributing 2 different negative numbers on both sides?
I can't figure out whether I should flip the sign or not.
Problem:
-2(0.5-4s) ≥ -3(4-3.5s)
-1+8s ≤ -12+10.5s
11+8s ≤ 10.5s
11 ≤ 2.5s
4.4 ≤ s
Is this correct or does the greater than sign stay the same?
2 Answers
- ?Lv 78 years agoFavorite Answer
No:
1) you should NEVER flip the direction of an inequality. Multiplying (or dividing) by a negative requires this, but you can avoid it by simply switching sides and thus flipping the inequality.
2) you ONLY flip the direction when you actually multiply both sides by a negative (or divide by a negative).
You didn't multiply both sides by a negative, you just have a negative on both sides:
-2(0.5 - 4s) ≥ -3(4 - 3.5s)
-->
-1 + 8s ≥ -12 + 10.5s
--> subtract 8s from both sides, add 12 to both sides
11 ≥ 2.5s
--> divide by 2.5, multiply by 2/5
4.4 ≥ s --> s ≤ 4.4
- HosamLv 68 years ago
The greater than sign remains the same. Because here you did not multiply the sides of
the inequality through by a negative number, what you did is simply expand the expressions
on both sides of the inequality. This does NOT reverse the sign of the inequality.
