Scott A.

asked • 02/13/19

Given two equations, find the solution

Two cars get different mileage. The first car gets 58 miles to the gallon on average. The second car gets 16 miles to the gallon on average. An advertisement claims that average consumer will save $2,000 a year by driving the first vehicle. Given this information, can you determine how many miles the average consumer drives in a year according to the advertisement.


*Assume that gas costs $3/gallon*

Scott A.

I started by converting the miles/gallon into miles/$ by using the stipulated $3/gallon cost. Vehicle A: 58 miles/gallon divide 58 by $3 = 19.33 miles/$ Vehicle B: 16 miles/gallon divide 16 by $3 = 5.33 miles/$ Then I wrote the equations I needed to solve the problem: Vehicle A: Total cost = $(miles) Vehicle B: Total cost = $(miles) - 2000 The intercept of these equations will provide the solution. We have a problem though, we have miles/$ values for the vehicles not $/miles, this is simply equal to the inverse. A: 19.33 inverse is aprox. = 0.052 B: 5.33 inverse is aprox. = 0.189 This results in the following equations: A: y = 0.052x B: y = 0.189x - 2000 When graphed the intersect is (14,598, 759) meaning that the advertisement is estimating that the average consumer drives approximately 14,600 miles/year.
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02/13/19

1 Expert Answer

By:

Dale B. answered • 08/06/19

Tutor
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