Math  /  Algebra

Question2. A car's gas tank can hold 14 gallons of gas. A mechanic determines that the tank is 13%13 \% full. a. Write and solve an equation of the form y=kxy=k x to determine the number of gallons of gas in the tank. b. Write and solve a proportion to determine the number of gallons of gas in the tank.

Studdy Solution

STEP 1

What is this asking? We need to figure out how much gas is in a car's tank if it's only 13% full and can hold 14 gallons.
We'll do this two ways: with an equation and with a proportion. Watch out! Percentages can be tricky!
Remember that 13% means 13 out of 100.
Don't mix up the percentage with the actual amount of gas.

STEP 2

1. Solve with an equation
2. Solve with a proportion

STEP 3

Let yy be the number of gallons of gas in the tank, and let xx be the total capacity of the tank, which is **14 gallons**. kk represents the percentage full, which is **13%** or 13100\frac{13}{100} as a decimal, this is **0.13**.

STEP 4

Our equation is y=kxy = k \cdot x.
This makes sense because the amount of gas in the tank (yy) is a fraction (kk) of the total capacity (xx).

STEP 5

We know k=0.13k = \mathbf{0.13} and x=14x = \mathbf{14}, so we substitute those values into our equation: y=0.1314y = \mathbf{0.13} \cdot \mathbf{14}.

STEP 6

Multiplying 0.13\mathbf{0.13} by 14\mathbf{14} gives us y=1.82y = \mathbf{1.82}.
So there are **1.82 gallons** of gas in the tank!

STEP 7

A proportion compares two ratios.
We can set up a proportion like this: gallons of gastotal capacity=percentage100\frac{\text{gallons of gas}}{\text{total capacity}} = \frac{\text{percentage}}{\mathbf{100}}.

STEP 8

We know the total capacity is **14 gallons**, and the percentage full is **13%**.
Let yy represent the gallons of gas.
Our proportion becomes y14=13100\frac{y}{\mathbf{14}} = \frac{\mathbf{13}}{\mathbf{100}}.

STEP 9

To solve for yy, we want to isolate it.
We can do this by multiplying both sides of the equation by **14**: y=1310014y = \frac{\mathbf{13}}{\mathbf{100}} \cdot \mathbf{14}.

STEP 10

Multiplying 13100\frac{\mathbf{13}}{\mathbf{100}} by 14\mathbf{14} gives us y=1.82y = \mathbf{1.82}.
This confirms our earlier result!
There are **1.82 gallons** of gas in the tank.

STEP 11

The car has **1.82 gallons** of gas in its tank.
We found this using both an equation of the form y=kxy=k \cdot x and by setting up a proportion.

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