Malcolm has $638.54 in his checking account. He must maintain a $500 balance to avoid a fee. He wrote a check for $159.50 today. Write and solve an inequality to solve for the least amount of money he needs to deposit to avoid a fee

Let any variable such as x represent the least amount of money that Malcolm needs to deposit. His balance from his checking account is $638.54. Subtract $159.50 from this amount.

With the condition that he must maintain $500, the inequality becomes,

(638.54 - 159.50) + x ≥ 500

479.04 + x ≥ 500

x ≥ 20.96