To Have and to Hold : A Lesson by Mathalicious

Is it a good idea to rent a storage unit? Americans love their stuff. There are more storage facilities in the United States than there are McDonald’s and Starbucks combined. But are people spending more on storage than their stuff is worth?

In this lesson, students write and solve multi-step equations to evaluate whether storage unit rentals are worth the cost and make recommendations for when people should store, sell, donate, or toss their unused stuff.

Students will

Write and solve inequalities (or equations) in the form of px + q = r

Before you begin

Students can explore with lesson using inequalities or other less efficient methods. To make sure inequalities come up -- and are related to those other methods -- it will be helpful for students have exposure to that mathematics beforehand.