To pay for an international swim competition, the team is holding a fundraiser. Each team member must earn at least $2,000 to cover the cost of the trip. If Alessandro's aunt pledged $200 and all his other pledges will pay him $2 for each lap of the pool he completes, what is the minimum number of laps Alessandro must swim to pay for his trip?

Since Alessandro's aunt has pledged $200, the amount left to be raised is $1800. Since each pledge will give Alessandro $2 per lap, we know that pledges * laps * 2 = 1800, which simplifies to pledges * laps = 900, and then to laps = 900 / pledges. We want to know the minimum number of laps Alessandro can swim to earn the $1800 and we can see from this equation that the number of laps needed will depend on how many pledges Alessandro gathers. Since he could collect 900 (or more) pledges and no pledge pays unless he swims at least one lap, this means the minimum number of laps to be swum is 1.