Carl Chandru A.

Khemlani 26 Feb 2020

BSAMT 1A

SOLVING SYSTEMS OF LINEAR INEQUALITIES

A system of linear inequalities in two variables consists of at least two linear inequalities in the same
variables. The solution of a linear inequality is the ordered pair that is a solution to all inequalities in the
system and the graph of the linear inequality is the graph of all solutions of the system.

Example #1

Solve the following system:

2x – 3y < 12
x + 5y < 20
x>0

Just as with solving single linear inequalities, it is usually best to solve as many of the inequalities as
possible for "y" on one side. Solving the first two inequalities, I get the rearranged system:

y > ( 2/3 )x – 4
y < ( – 1/5 )x + 4
x>0

"Solving" systems of linear inequalities means "graphing each individual inequality, and then finding the
overlaps of the various solutions". So I graph each inequality, and then find the overlapping portions of
the solution regions.

The line for the first inequality in the above system, y > ( 2/3 )x – 4, looks
like this:

This inequality is a "greater than" inequality, so I want to shade above

the line. However. since there will be more than one inequality on this
graph, I don't know (yet) how much of that upper side I will actually
need. Until I know, I can keep track of the fact that I want the top region
by drawing a little "fringe" along the top side of the line, like this:

Now I graph the line for the second inequality above, y < ( – 1/5 )x + 4 and,
since this is a "less than" inequality, I'll draw the fringe along the bottom
of the line:

The last inequality is a common "real life" constraint: only allowing x to

be positive.  The line "x = 0" is just the y-axis, and I want the right-hand
side. I need to remember to dash the line in, because this isn't an "or
equal to" inequality, so the boundary (the line) isn't included in the
solution:
The "solution" of the system is the region where all the inequalities are happy; that is, the solution is
where all the inequalities work, the region where all three individual solution regions overlap. In this
case, the solution is the shaded part in the middle:

Reference: (https://www.purplemath.com/modules/syslneq.htm)

Example #2

Graph the system of inequalities

{y≥2x−3y≥−3y≤−0.8x+2.5

Graph one line at the time in the same coordinate plane and shade the half-plane that satisfies the
inequality.

The solution region which is the intersection of the half-planes is

shown in a darker shade

Usually only the solution region is shaded which makes it easier to see which region is the solution
region

Reference:
(https://www.mathplanet.com/education/algebra-1/systems-of-linear-equations-and-
inequalities/systems-of-linear-inequalities)