Tickets for a community theater production cost $6 each when bought in advance

Tickets for a community theater production cost $6 each when bought in advance and $8 each when bought at the door. The theater group’s goal is at least $2,000 in ticket sales for opening night. The theater group sold 142 opening-night tickets in advance. What is the minimum number of tickets they need to sell at the door on opening night to make their goal?

  1. 143
  2. 144
  3. 192
  4. 250
  5. 357

Answer

The amount collected from the sale of 142 tickets bought in advance is equal to ($6 per ticket)(142 tickets) = $852.

The amount collected from the sale of d tickets bought at the door is equal to ($8 per ticket)(d tickets) = $8d.

The total amount collected from all ticket sales is 852 + 8d.

To determine the minimum number of tickets to produce $2,000 in ticket sales, you can set up an inequality:

852 + 8d ≥ 2,000

Subtracting 852 from both sides and then dividing by 8 produces the equivalent inequality

d ≥ 143.5

The d must be a whole number of tickets, so you must select the whole number d to satisfy the inequality. This means you must round 143.5 up to obtain the correct answer.