Question

Jeremy Jax says his car averages 32 miles per gallon of gasoline. How many gallons

of gas does he need to travel 500 miles? Find the answer to the nearest whole
gallon

Answer 1

Explanation:

Probably the easiest way to set this up and solve it is to use proportions. We'll put miles on the top and gallons on the bottom:

`(mi)/(gal) :`

Since we know the first unit rate of 32 miles per 1 gallon, we put those numbers where they belong in another fraction (ratio), with the number of miles on top with the "mi" and the number of gallons on bottom with the "gal":

`(mi)/(gal) :(32)/(1)=`

Now we fill in what we know about the second ratio and leave the unknown to be solved for. We want to know how many gallons of gas, x, does he need to travel 500 miles. We put the 500 with the "mi" and the x for "gal":

`(mi)/(gal) :(32)/(1) =(500)/(x)`

and cross multiply to solve.

32x = 500 so

x = 15.6 or, to the nearest whole gallon, 16 gallons.