Strength Limits on a Drive Belt:
The drive belt for a mulching machine must be able to handle a load of at
least 3,000 lb. However, the design for the machine is
for the belt to break on any load of 9,000 lb or greater.
This is done so the belt is sacrificed to prevent damage
to the rest of the machine if foreign material is input
into the mulching machine. The belt consists of
synthetic strands attached to a nylon core that can
support a load of 250 lb. Each synthetic strand added to
the cable adds 500 lb to the load the belt can handle.
a. Write a compound inequality to model this problem.
b. Determine the number of synthetic strands to put in
this belt.