Transportation_ Section 3_Beg-Numeracy
Transportation: Beginning Numeracy
Section 3: Miles per Gallon & Cost of Gasoline
EL Civics 2011-13
Unit Description:
This unit is divided into four sections with each section having 3 to 5 activities. This
document contains teaching materials for Section 3.
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Section 1: Finding distances on a map
Section 2: Understanding scale
Section 3: Calculating miles per gallon & cost of gasoline
Section 4: Calculating miles per hour and trip duration
Ronald Hubbs Center EL Civics 2011-2013
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Transportation_ Section 3_Beg-Numeracy
Miles per Gallon Discussion (S3-A1)
1. Where do you drive?
2. How many miles is it one way? Two ways?
3. What does miles per gallon mean?
4. What does gas mileage mean?
5. Why is miles per gallon important?
6. How many miles per gallon does your car or your family or friend’s car get?
7. What do you think is good gas mileage for a car?
8. What do you think is good gas mileage for a truck or van?
9. What do you think is bad (poor) gas mileage?
10.Do you worry about the gas mileage of your car? Why or why not?
11.Did you ever drive a long distance on a trip?
a. Where did you drive?
b. How far was it?
c. How much did it cost for gas?
d. Do you think the trip was expensive?
Ronald Hubbs Center EL Civics 2011-2013
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Transportation_ Section 3_Beg-Numeracy
Calculating Distance (S3-A2)
Part A: How far is it?
Find the distance of each trip. Follow these steps.
1. Measure between the two cities on the map.
2. What is the map scale?
1 inch = __16_ miles
½ inch = ____ miles
¼ inch = ____ miles
3. Cross multiply the inches by the scale proportion for miles.
Scale: __1__ inch = __16__ miles
Measurement: _____ inches = ? miles
Trip
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
From City
St. Cloud
Alexandria
St. Paul
St. Paul
International Falls
To City
Little Falls
St. Cloud
Duluth
Worthington
Albert Lea
Inches
x Proportion
Actual miles
Part B: How far was it?
Another way to calculate mileage is to write down the miles on your odometer before
and after your trip. An odometer is the instrument in a vehicle that shows how many
total miles the car has been driven.
Calculate the miles that were driven for each trip. Follow these steps:
1. How many miles were on the odometer at the start of the trip? 65,164
2. How many miles were on the odometer at the end of the trip? 65,432
3. Subtract the starting miles from the ending miles to get the total miles driven.
Ending miles =
65,432
Starting miles =
- 65,164
Miles Driven =
268 miles
Trip
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Starting Odometer Miles
48,621
120,412
98,258
148,963
69,412
Ronald Hubbs Center EL Civics 2011-2013
Ending Odometer Miles
48,654
120,484
98,405
149,143
69,798
3
Miles Driven
Transportation_ Section 3_Beg-Numeracy
Calculating Gas Mileage (S3-A3:Beg. 1)
Gas mileage tells us how much gas a vehicle uses for how many miles. For example,
smaller vehicles can get 35 miles per gallon or 35 mpg. That means that you can drive 35
miles on 1 gallon of gas. Larger vehicles can get 15 miles per gallon or 15 mpg.
How many miles can you drive on one gallon of gas if your vehicle gets 15 mpg?
22 mpg? 27 mpg?
When you want to buy a vehicle, it is important to ask what the gas mileage is for each
vehicle you look at. If a vehicle gets good gas mileage, like 35 mpg, you will need less
gallons of gas for your vehicle. That means you will pay less money for gas. If a vehicle
gets bad gas mileage, like 15 mpg., you will need more gallons of gas for you vehicle.
That means you will pay more money for gas. Knowing the gas mileage for a vehicle helps
you know how much money we will spend on gas.
Write the miles per gallon for each vehicle. Circle if it is good gas mileage, so-so, or bad.
Miles per
gallon (mpg.)
Circle
1. The car can go 30 miles on one gallon of gas.
good so-so bad
2. The truck can go 12 miles on one gallon of gas.
good so-so bad
3. The van can go 15 miles on one gallon of gas.
good so-so bad
4. The car can go 25 miles on one gallon of gas.
good so-so bad
5. The truck can go 26 miles on two gallons of gas.
good so-so bad
6. The car can go 50 miles on two gallons of gas.
good so-so bad
7. The bus can go 100 miles on 10 gallons of gas.
good so-so bad
8. The car can go 100 miles on 5 gallons of gas.
good so-so bad
9. The car can go 200 miles on 8 gallons of gas.
good so-so bad
10. The bus can go 150 miles on 15 gallons of gas.
good so-so bad
Ronald Hubbs Center EL Civics 2011-2013
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Transportation_ Section 3_Beg-Numeracy
Calculating Gas Mileage (S3-A3:Beg. 2)
Gas mileage tells us how much gas a vehicle uses for how many miles. For example,
smaller vehicles can get 35 miles per gallon or 35 mpg. That means that you can drive 35
miles on 1 gallon of gas. Larger vehicles can get 15 miles per gallon or 15 mpg.
How many miles can you drive on one gallon of gas if your vehicle gets 15 mpg?
22 mpg? 27 mpg?
Calculating gas mileage helps us figure out how much money we are spending on gas. To
calculate gas mileage, follow these steps:
1. Start with a full tank of gas.
2. Write down the miles on your odometer (starting miles). 65,164 miles
3. Drive your vehicle for several days.
4. Fill up your tank with gas.
5. Write down the miles on your odometer (ending miles). 65,432 miles
6. Calculate miles driven. Ending miles – Starting miles: 65,424 – 65,164 = 260 miles
7. Write down how many gallons you put in to fill the tank. This is how many gallons
you used. 10 gallons
8. Divide the number of miles you drove by the gallons used to fill the tank.
260 miles ÷ 10 gallons = 26 miles per gallon
Calculate the gas mileage for the following trips.
Trip
Starting
Miles
Ending
Miles
1.
142,360
142,610
10 gallons
2.
122,359
122,519
8 gallons
3.
45,369
45,519
10 gallons
4.
98,765
99,080
9 gallons
5.
110,050
110,218
6 gallons
Ronald Hubbs Center EL Civics 2011-2013
Miles Driven
5
Gallons used
Miles per
Gallon (mpg)
Transportation_ Section 3_Beg-Numeracy
Calculating Gas Needed (S3-A4)
When you know how far you will travel and you know your vehicle’s gas mileage, you can
calculate how much gas you need for a trip. Gas mileage tells us how much gas a vehicle
uses for how many miles. For example, if a vehicle gets 25 miles per gallon (25 mpg) that
means that you can drive 25 miles on 1 gallon of gas. If a vehicle gets 15 miles per gallon
(15 mpg.) then you can drive only 15 miles on 1 gallon of gas. How many miles can you
drive on one gallon of gas if your vehicle gets 15 mpg? 22 mpg? 27 mpg?
To calculate gallons needed, you must divide the total miles by the gas mileage:
For example:
A bus goes 100 miles. The bus gets 10 miles per gallon. How many
gallons will it need? 100 miles ÷ 10 mpg. = 10 gallons
Look at the information in the chart and calculate the gallons of gas needed for each trip.
Trip
Trip Miles
Gas Mileage (mpg)
1.
60
20
2.
60
30
3.
100
25
4.
100
20
5.
200
25
6.
160
40
7.
150
15
8.
176
22
9.
315
35
10.
168
28
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Gallons needed
Transportation_ Section 3_Beg-Numeracy
Calculating Gas Costs (S3-A5)
Now that we know how to calculate the gas mileage for our vehicle, when we plan a trip,
we can calculate how much we will spend on gasoline. This is nice to know so we can
make sure we have enough money for our trip.
For each trip, calculate the cost of gasoline. Use these steps:
1. Calculate the trip miles. Example: 250 miles
a. Measure on the map and use the map scale to find actual miles.
b. Use the mileage chart on the map.
c. Use an internet map site like google maps to find the mileage
2. Divide the miles by the vehicles gas mileage (mpg) to find how many gallons of gas
is needed. Example: 250 miles ÷ 25 mpg = 10 gallons
3. Multiply the gallons of gas by the cost of gas per gallon.
Example: 10 gallons x $3.72 = $37.20
Trip
Trip Miles
Gas Mileage
(mpg)
Gallons
needed
1.
250
25
$3.72/gallon
2.
160
20
$3.64/gallon
3.
150
15
$3.84/gallon
4.
315
35
$3.59/gallon
5.
168
28
$3.94/gallon
Calculations:
Ronald Hubbs Center EL Civics 2011-2013
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Cost/Gallon
One-Way
Cost
Roundtrip
Cost
Transportation_ Section 3_Beg-Numeracy
Planning a Trip (S3)
Now you know how to plan your own trip. Let’s review the steps. Complete the
sentences by using the words in the box.
roundtrip
multiply
multiply
scale
divide
gas mileage
cost
measure
gasoline
1. Choose a city in Minnesota where you want to travel.
2. _______________ the distance on the map between the starting city and your
destination (ending city).
3. Calculate actual miles by using the ____________ on the map.
4. ____________ the inches by the scale miles.
5. Guess what _____________ your vehicle gets. 20 mpg? 25 mpg? 30 mpg?
6. Calculate how much __________ you will need for your trip.
7. ___________ the trip miles by the gas mileage (mpg).
8. Calculate the _______ of the gas for a one-way trip.
9. __________ the number of gallons by the cost of gas at $3.72/gallon.
10.Calculate how much it will cost to go and come back for a __________.
My Trip:
*The Minnesota map scale is: 1 inch = 16 miles
Destination Inches
Miles
Mpg
Gallons
needed
Calculations:
Ronald Hubbs Center EL Civics 2011-2013
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Cost/gal.
$3.72/gal.
One-Way
Cost
Roundtrip cost