Megan and her twin April are seniors in high school. They worked throughout the summer to have enough money to buy cars, and it cost them every cent they had saved! Now they are trying to figure out how much it will cost them to run through the year. “I have no idea how much I will drive this year,” says Megan. “It’s 5 miles to school, I have soccer practice 3 times a week, which is 2 miles from school, and I probably drive 20 miles on the weekend.”“I’m about the same as you. Don’t forget in the summer we will probably each drive about a hundred miles a week.” Estimate how many miles Megan and April will each drive in the next 12 months.
1. Just give one estimate for them both as they drive about the same number of miles.
“Great. So how much do you think gas will cost us this year?” asks Megan. “Talk for yourself. My car runs on electricity! I only need to pay $0.12 per kilowatt hour, and it takes about 1 kilowatt hour to drive 3 miles,” says April.
2. Estimate April’s electricity cost for the upcoming year.
“Well, that’s confusing,” replies Megan. “They say my car gets 25 mpg highway and 17 mpg city. We don’t really live in a city, do we? Gas is currently $2.85 a gallon.”
3. Estimate Megan’s costs for the upcoming year.
To estimate the number of miles Megan and April will each drive in the next 12 months, we need to calculate their weekly mileage for different activities and then multiply it by 52 weeks.
1. Megan's Weekly Mileage:
- Distance to school: 5 miles x 5 school days = 25 miles
- Soccer practice: 2 miles x 3 times a week = 6 miles
- Weekend driving: 20 miles
- Summer driving: 100 miles per week x 4 weeks (assuming a month) = 400 miles
So Megan's estimated total weekly mileage is: 25 + 6 + 20 + 100 = 151 miles
Multiplying it by 52 weeks, Megan's estimated mileage for the upcoming year is: 151 miles/week x 52 weeks = 7,852 miles
Since April mentioned that she drives about the same as Megan, we can assume that April will also drive around 7,852 miles in the next 12 months.
2. April's Electricity Cost:
April stated that her car requires 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) to drive 3 miles. We need to calculate the number of kilowatt-hours she will consume in a year and then multiply it by the cost per kilowatt-hour.
Using the ratio she provided, we can estimate the total distance covered in a year with 1 kWh.
Distance covered with 1 kWh: 3 miles
Distance covered in a year (52 weeks): 3 miles x 52 weeks = 156 miles
Now we need to find the number of kilowatt-hours required to drive 7,852 miles.
1 kWh covers 156 miles, so the number of kWh for 7,852 miles is: 7,852 miles / 156 miles = 50 kWh
Multiplying the number of kWh by the cost per kWh:
50 kWh x $0.12/kWh = $6
So April's estimated electricity cost for the upcoming year is $6.
3. Megan's Gasoline Cost:
To estimate Megan's gasoline cost, we need to calculate the total gallons of gasoline she will consume in a year and then multiply it by the cost per gallon.
Megan mentioned that her car gets 25 miles per gallon (mpg) on the highway and 17 mpg in the city. Assuming they don't live in a city, we'll consider the highway mileage.
Total mileage for the year: 7,852 miles (same as estimated mileage)
Number of gallons required: 7,852 miles / 25 mpg = 314.08 gallons
Multiplying the number of gallons by the cost per gallon:
314.08 gallons x $2.85/gallon = $895.22
So Megan's estimated gasoline cost for the upcoming year is $895.22.