Final answer:
To find the daily water usage for showers, calculate the total daily water usage by dividing the known water usage for other purposes (60 gallons) by 0.80, which represents 80%, and then multiply the total by 20%. The total daily water usage is 75 gallons, and 20% of this is dedicated to showering, which is 15 gallons per day.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the number of gallons of water used daily while taking a shower, first determine the total daily water usage. If taking a shower accounts for 20% of your daily water usage, and you use 60 gallons of water daily for other purposes, the total water usage can be represented as 100%. Therefore, the shower usage (20%) plus other uses (80%) equals the total daily usage (100%).
To solve for the amount used in a shower, let's represent the total daily water usage as x. Then we have the equation 0.80x = 60 gallons for other uses. To find the total usage x, divide both sides of the equation by 0.80 to isolate x:
- x = 60 gallons / 0.80
- x = 75 gallons
Since the shower uses 20% of this total, we multiply 75 gallons by 20% to find the shower water usage:
- Shower usage = 75 gallons x 0.20
- Shower usage = 15 gallons