Question

What inequality represents the sentence below?

The product of a number and 5 is no more than 8.

Answer 1

@phi

Answer 2

@AccessDenied

Answer 3

What have you considered so far on this problem?

Answer 4

The phrase, "a number," implies we have one variable which we may call some letter such as x or n.
The phrase, "the product of _ and _," should give us the clue that the two items are multiplied together.

At the point we have the verb "is," we have some sign of equality/inequality because we are effectively saying one side is somehow related to another. The way we know which sign is by what comes afterwards being "no more than." We can have any value less than it or even equal to it, but once you've gone above it it no is covered by this statement.

Answer 5

So, if we called the number, x, we can take it by parts:
The product of a number and 5 ...
The product of \(x\) and 5 ...
And then use the sign that means "less than or equal to" the last value, 8.

Answer 6

Is this explanation clear? Anything I need to clarify? :)