Example 10: Solution

Solution
Distance and cost- Mathematics Year 2

Mario has just purchased a 2.0 Chevrolet Camaro and decided to take a trip from the city where he currently
lives, Boise to his hometown, Cheyenne. To budget for the trip, he decides to calculate the amount of fuel
needed taking into account the distance between the two cities and the Camaro's fuel economy of 4.3 gallons
of fuel per 100 miles traveled.

1a. Identify the missing values and complete the table.

Fuel (gallons) Distance travelled (miles)

4.3 100

2.15 50

8.6 200

1b. Find the distance the car can travel on one gallon of fuel.

100 ÷ 4.3
= 23.3 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚
4.3 ÷ 4.3

(accept: 23.26; or other correct rounding)

1c. Calculate the number of gallons of fuel you need to make the 150-mile journey.

23.3𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 150 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚

=
1 𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔 𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥

150
𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥 = = 6.4 𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚
23.3

(accept: 6.45; 6,5,..... correct use of the previous answer)

1d. Mario is planning to take a car trip from Boise to Cheyenne. Refer to the scale provided and the distance,
measured in centimetres on the map.
Calculate the approximate distance between the two cities, give your answer in miles.

Mathematics teacher support material 1

 Example 10: Solution

1𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 5.02𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚
=
100𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥

𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥 = 5.02 × 100

𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥 = 502 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚

1e. Calculate the approximate number of gallons of fuel you need to make the return / round trip.

Round trip distance is 502 × 2 = 1004𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚

Amount of fuel is 1004 ÷ 23.3 = 43 𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚

(Allow any correct rounding)

1g. The cost of fuel is $1.87 per gallon. Calculate the approximate cost of fuel required for the return / round
trip.

43 × 1.87 = $80.42

(Allow any correct rounding using their answer from 1e)

Mathematics teacher support material 2

 Example 10: Solution

1g. At the end of the trip Mario determines that the total cost of fuel was $118.30
Calculate the actual distance between Bosie and Cheyenne.

Number of gallons of fuel: 118.3 ÷ 1.87 = 63.3 𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔ℎ𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔

Actual distance (round trip) according to performance 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎ℎ𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒63.3 × 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎ℎ𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒23.3 = 1474.89 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚

Distance between Boise to Cheyenne 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎ℎ𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒1474.89 ÷ 2 = 737 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚

(follow through the rounding used by the student )

1h. When making measurements there is always an error derived from the way it is done or the instruments
used. In mathematics, the percentage of error is calculated using the formula

𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 − 𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓

%𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 = � � × 100
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓

1i. Calculate the percentage error of the approximate distance and the actual distance.
737 − 502
× 100 = 31.9%
737
(Allow any correct rounding using their answer from 1h or 1e)

1j. Comment on the percentage error.

The error rate is very high and the approximate value is too small because when calculating the distance on the
map it is done in a straight line but in real life the route has curves and inclines therefore the distance is
greater.

Mathematics teacher support material 3