Question 465833: Assume a gasoline price of $2.95 per gallon. What is the gasoline cost for a 1500-
mile trip if you drive at an average speed of 60 miles per hour? At 75 miles per
hour?
I don't know how to even start this.
Found 2 solutions by josmiceli, bucky:
Answer by josmiceli(19441)   (Show Source):
Answer by bucky(2189)  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! This problem cannot be solved with the information that you have provided. The key information that is needed is the miles per gallon that the vehicle involved gets at 60 miles per hour and also at 70 miles per hour.
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I would expect that somewhere associated with this problem is a table or graph that enables you to determine the miles per gallon for the vehicle at 60 mph and also at 70 mph. Once you know those two quantities the problem can be solved.
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Just suppose that at 60 miles per hour the vehicle gets 30 miles per gallon. Then suppose that at 70 miles per hour the vehicle gets 25 miles per gallon. (The faster a vehicle goes the less miles per gallon is expected because the air resistance increases.)
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At 60 mph, every 30 miles the vehicle goes, it uses a gallon of gasoline. The question then becomes, "how many 30 mile stretches are there in 1500 miles?" Divide 1500 by 30 and you get 50. For each of those 50 stretches the vehicle burns 1 gallon, so the total trip would take 50 gallons of gasoline. Then, at the cost of $2.95 per gallon (the good old days) the 50 gallons would cost 50 times $2.95 which equals $147.50
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Similarly, we supposed that at 70 mph, the vehicle got 25 miles per gallon. How many 25 mile segments are there in 1500 miles? Divide 1500 by 25 and the answer is 60 of them. Each of those 60 increments consumes a gallon of gas, so a total of 60 gallons is consumed at 70 mph. At $2.95 per gallon the total cost of the 60 gallons is ($2.95 times 60) $177.00.
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This shows that increasing the average speed from 60 mph to 70 mph would cost you $29.50 more for gasoline ($177.00 minus $147.50). This leads to the often quoted maxim, "It costs money to go fast."
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Hope this helps you to understand what you are missing and when you find it, you can follow the above methodology to get the answer to your problem. Good luck!
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