Question

Write the following statement as an equation and solve. Jake​ Drewrey, owner of​ Jake's Landscape​ Service, knows that one of his fertilizer tanks holds four times as many gallons of liquid fertilizer as a second tank. The two tanks together hold 286 gal. If both tanks are filled to​ capacity, how many gallons of fertilizer does each tank​ hold?

Answer 1

Jake has two tanks of fertilizer. One of these holds 4 times as many gallons as the second. Let's call the amount in the second one (the one that holds less) x. If the other tank (the bigger one) holds four times as much then that tank holds 4x (as an example, if the little one holds 3 then the big one holds 3x4=12). Four times as much means multiply by 4.

Now you have one tank that holds x and another that holds 4x. Together they hold x + 4x and you are told this is 286 gallons. Let's set those equal to each other and solve:

x + 4x = 286
5x = 286
x = 286/5
x = 57.2

Remember that's 57.2 gallons and this is x so this is what the smaller tank holds. The larger tank holds 4x = (4)(57.2) = 228.8 gallons.

As a check 57.2 + 228.8 = 286 (as it should).