Question

A vehicle uses 1 7/8 gallons of gasoline to travel 56 1/4 miles. At this rate, how many miles can the vehicle travel per gallon of gasoline.

Answer 1

30 miles

Explanation:

In this context, "per" means "divided by", so to find miles per gallon, divide miles by gallons:

(56 1/4 mi)/(1 7/8 gal) = 30 mi/gal

The vehicle can travel 30 miles per gallon of gas.

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My calculator divides mixed numbers directly, as many graphing calculators do. If you're working this out by hand, you can convert to improper fractions, then multiply the numerator by the inverse of the denominator.

(56 1/4)/(1 7/8) = (225/4)/(15/8)

= (225/4)·(8/15) = (225/15)·(8/4)

= 15·2 = 30