Answer
The elevator can only carry the elevator operator plus $less$ $than$ $29$ $bags$ of cement safely in one trip.
Work Step by Step
To solve this exercise, we must first model the total weight for the elevator, including that of the elevator operator: $$Weight_{total} = 245 + 95c$$ where $c$ represents the total amount of bags of cement. Since the maximum amount the elevator can safely carry is $3,000$ pounds, we can further model this in the following manner: $$Weight_{total} \lt 3,000$$ $$245 + 95c \lt 3,000$$ By solving for $c$: $$95c \lt 3,000 - 245$$ $$95c \lt 2,755$$ $$c \lt 29$$ we can say that the elevator can only carry the elevator operator plus $less$ $than$ $29$ $bags$ of cement safely in one trip.
