Question

You are running a fuel economy study. One of the cars you find is blue. It can travel 44 and one half miles on 1 and one fourth gallons of gasoline. Another car is red. It can travel 28 and four fifths miles on four fifths gallon of gasoline. What is the unit rate for miles per gallon for each​ car? Which car could travel the greater distance on 1 gallon of​ gasoline?

Answer 1

Unit rate of blue car is 35.6 miles/gallon and unit rate of red car is 36 miles/gallon. The red car could travel the greater distance on 1 gallon of​ gasoline.

Explanation

Unit rate for each car can be calculated using the below formula...

Unit rate = (Distance traveled) / (Amount of gasoline)

For Blue car, distance traveled $=44\frac{1}{2} = \frac{89}{2} miles$    and amount of gasoline $=1 \frac{1}{4}= \frac{5}{4} gallons$

So, the unit rate for blue car = $\frac{89}{2}$ ÷ $\frac{5}{4}$ = $\frac{89}{2}$ × $\frac{4}{5}$ = $\frac{356}{10} = 35.6$ miles/gallon

Now for Red car, distance traveled $= 28\frac{4}{5} = \frac{144}{5} miles$   and amount of gasoline $= \frac{4}{5} gallons$

So, the unit rate for red car = $\frac{144}{5}$ ÷ $\frac{4}{5}$ = $\frac{144}{5}$ × $\frac{5}{4}$ = $\frac{144}{4} = 36$ miles/gallon

As the unit rate for red car is greater than the blue car, that means the Red car could travel the greater distance on 1 gallon of​ gasoline.