How many MILES can you drive on a quarter of a tank (0.25 tank) of gas if you get 16 miles per gallon and your gas tank holds 18.6 gallons?
The Correct Answer and Explanation is :
To determine how many miles you can drive on a quarter of a tank of gas, follow these steps:
Step 1: Calculate the amount of gas in a quarter of a tank.
You know that the gas tank holds 18.6 gallons, and you are interested in a quarter of a tank. To find the amount of gas in a quarter of a tank, multiply the total capacity by 0.25:
[
18.6 \, \text{gallons} \times 0.25 = 4.65 \, \text{gallons}
]
Step 2: Calculate how far you can drive on 4.65 gallons.
Next, use the information that the vehicle gets 16 miles per gallon (mpg). To find how many miles you can drive on 4.65 gallons, multiply the number of gallons by the miles per gallon:
[
4.65 \, \text{gallons} \times 16 \, \text{mpg} = 74.4 \, \text{miles}
]
Final Answer:
You can drive 74.4 miles on a quarter tank of gas.
Explanation:
The problem requires you to use basic multiplication to find how many miles you can travel with a specific amount of gas, given the car’s fuel efficiency.
- Gas Tank Capacity: Your car has an 18.6-gallon tank, and the task asks for the distance you can travel with a quarter tank, which is 0.25 of the total capacity. This step breaks the tank into a smaller portion to calculate fuel usage for that amount.
- Fuel Efficiency: The car’s fuel efficiency is given as 16 miles per gallon, meaning the car can travel 16 miles for every gallon of fuel. Knowing how many gallons you have (4.65 gallons), you multiply it by the efficiency to get the total number of miles.
- Multiplication Process: Multiplying the gallons of fuel by the miles per gallon gives the total distance. By following the process, you find that you can drive 74.4 miles on a quarter tank of gas.
This approach is a simple application of unit conversion and basic arithmetic.