A high school coach needs to buy new athletic shorts for the 15 members of the basketball team. The coach must spend less than $200 and needs to determine how much he can spend per pair of shorts. Write and solve an inequality to determine the maximum price for each pair of shorts. What does the solution represent?

Let p be the price of one pair of shorts. For 15 pairs to cost less than $200, write 15p < 200. Dividing by 15 gives p < $13.33… (since $200 ÷ 15 = $13.33…). Thus the price must be less than about $13.33 per pair, so choice A is the closest match; spending exactly $13.33 would put the total at $199.95, which is still under $200.

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