Question

Dimensional Analysis

You drive up to Canada and notice that gas costs $1.31 per liter. The Canadian dollar is worth U.S. $1.02. How much will it cost you to fill up your 12 gallon tank? What is the price per gallon up in Canada?

Answer 1

• $5.058 USD/gal
• $60.70 USD to fill the tank

Explanation:

You want to know the cost per gallon of gas and the cost for 12 gallons of gas when the cost per liter is $1.31 CDN and the exchange rate is $1.02 USD per CAD.

Cost per gallon

The conversion between liters and gallons is ...

1 US gallon = 3.785411784 liters (exactly)

Then the cost conversion is ...

`\frac{\$1.31\text{ CAD}}{1\text{ L}}*\frac{3.785411784\text{ L}}{1\text{ gal}}*\frac{\$1.02\text{ USD}}{\$1.00\text{ CAD}}\approx\boxed{\$5.058\text{ USD/gal}}`

The cost per gallon in terms of US dollars is about $5.06.

Cost per tank

The cost for 12 gallons will be ...

(12 gal)×($5.058 /gal) ≈ $60.70

It will cost you $60.70 to fill your 12 gallon tank.

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Additional comment

The price of gas is routinely specified to tenths of a cent, both in the US and in Canada. As of today, the cost of gas in Canada has declined to $1.864 CAD/liter. At today's exchange rate of about $0.77 USD per CAD, the equivalent price is $5.406 USD/gal.