how would you write this word problem as an equation? When the gas gauge on her car was on the 3/8 mark, Karen pumped 15 gal. of gas into the tank in order to fill it. How many gal. of gas does the tank in Karen's car hold?

3/8x + 15 = x

24

To write the word problem as an equation, we need to define the unknown quantity and set up an equation to represent the given information.

Let's say that the capacity of the gas tank in Karen's car is represented by 'x' gallons.

The problem states that when the gas gauge on her car was at the 3/8 mark, Karen pumped 15 gallons of gas into the tank to fill it.

The 3/8 mark on the gas gauge corresponds to 3/8 of the total capacity of the gas tank, which is 3/8 * x = (3/8)x.

Since Karen pumped 15 gallons of gas at this point, we can set up the equation as follows: (3/8)x = 15.

This equation represents the relationship between the gas gauge mark and the volume of gas pumped.

To find the total capacity of the gas tank, we can solve for 'x' by multiplying both sides of the equation by the reciprocal of 3/8, which is 8/3. It will give us:

(8/3)(3/8)x = (8/3) * 15,
canceling out the 3/8 on the left side:
x = 8 * 15 / 3.

Simplifying the equation, we calculate that x equals to 40.

Therefore, the gas tank in Karen's car holds 40 gallons of gas.