You are planning an ornamental garden that has a total area of 200 square feet. There are two sizes of ornamental plants you have chosen for your garden. Each small plant requires 2.5 square feet of space and each large plant requires 8 square feet of space. This situation can be modeled by the equation 2.5x + 8y = 200 where x is the number of small plants and y is the number of large plants to be placed in the garden. What do the intercepts mean in this situation? What are three possible numbers of small plants and large plants that you can plant in the garden?

Question

You are planning an ornamental garden that has a total area of 200 square feet. There are two sizes of ornamental plants you have chosen for your garden. Each small plant requires 2.5 square feet of space and each large plant requires 8 square feet of space. This situation can be modeled by the equation 2.5x + 8y = 200  where x  is the number of small plants and y is the number of large plants to be placed in the garden. What do the intercepts mean in this situation? What are three possible numbers of small plants and large plants that you can plant in the garden?

anonymous · Answer

All you need to do is use process of elimination. Start out with an even set of numbers and work your way up and down. Such as 2.5(20) + 8(20)= 210. So that wont work. Simply work your way around certain numbers untill you get a set of 3 that match.