Question

Last week, several gas stations in a neighborhood all charged the same price for a gallon of gas.The table below shows how much gas prices have changed from last week to this week.
a. Order the numbers in the table from least to greatest.

b. Which gas station has the cheapest gas this week?

c. Critical Thinking. Which gas station changed their price the least this week?

Gas and Samson. Star
Go. Gas. Gas
-6.6. 5.8. -6 3/4


Corner store. tip top
27/5. shop
-5 5/8

Answer 1

To compare the numbers, we'd better convert the fractions into decimals. 

–6 3/4 = –6.75
27/5 = 5.4
–5 5/8 = –5.625

Now that the numbers are –6.6, 5.8, –6.75, 5.4 and –5.625.
a) A negative number is always less than a positive number. In addition, a negative with a larger magnitude would be less. Like –4 < –3. So the order from least to greatest is –6.75 < –6.6 < –5.625 < 5.4 < 5.8. In other words, –6 3/4 < –6.6 < –5 5/8 < 27/5 < 5.8.

b) A negative change means that the gas price decreased. The gas station that decreased the gas price the most is the Star gas since the –6 3/4 is the least number in the list.

c) The changes in prices can be compared in relation to each other based on their magnitude, which is the value without the sign. For example, the magnitude of –4 is 4. The magnitudes of the changes in prices are 6.6, 5.8, 6.75, 5.4 and 5.625. So the least change is 5.4, that is, 27/5. So the Corner Store changed the price the least.