Question

At the beginning of a trip, the mileage odometer read $56{,}200$ miles. The driver filled the gas tank with $6$ gallons of gasoline. During the trip, the driver filled the tank again with $12$ gallons of gasoline when the odometer read $56{,}560.$ At the end of the trip, the driver filled the tank again with $20$ gallons of gasoline; the odometer read $57{,}060.$ To the nearest tenth, what was the car's average miles-per-gallon for the entire trip?

$22.5$

$22.6$

$24.0$

$26.9$

$27.5$

Solution:

The trip was $57{,}060 - 56{,}200 = 860$ miles. The initial $6$ gallons only topped off the tank before the trip; the gas actually used during the trip is the $12 + 20 = 32$ gallons later added to replace it.

So the average is $\dfrac{860}{32} \approx 26.9$ miles per gallon.

Thus, the correct answer is D .

1986 AMC 8 Problem 19

Solution:

Problem 19 in Other Years