Given:
X = per gallon gasoline (where X is the price you paid at the pump)
Y = gallon capacity (where Y is the gas tank capacity of your car)
Z = total miles driven to deplete your gas tank
Question:
1. What is the price you paid to fill up your gas tank from when it's empty
2. How much does it cost you to drive 20 miles?
Ideal Theory solution
X * Y = (3.29 * 10) = about 33
Z = 300 (an approximate figure)
20/300 = 2/30 = 1/15 of 33 = (1/15)*33 = 33/15 = $2.20
Practical Theory solution
Most of the times, we were given the total cost at the pump, and how much X costs. Because the capacity filled varies each time, and driving conditions varies it also affects the total milage for that tank of gas ... we can only calculate the average of miles per gallon over a series of visits at the pump.
What you can do to track this is by printing out a receit if you're paying by credit or debit card. X is given to you, along with gallons filled. Keep that receit, reset your odometor, and wait til the next time you need gas filled again, then take the old receit out and record the number of miles driven, then reset your odometer again. It's not a perfect method, but over a couple of recordings, you will have an accurate average of total miles driven along with the average of gallons consumed, use those figures to find the miles per gallon (MPG) of your vehicle. Also figure out the average of prices paid at the pump for later calculations.
In the future, if you've ever wondered ... 'hmp... I wonder how much this trip is gonna cost me?' you can take the distance of the trip (in this case 20 miles), and assuming your car's actual MPG is 32.
Since you have the actual MPG number, which is 32, take that number and multiply it by Y, where Y is the total capacity your gas tank is capable of holding in order to get the number for Z, in this case Z represents the ideal number of miles driven in order to deplete your gas tank.
So... take the distance of trip 20 miles, put it over Z, or 20/Z, is equivalent to the ratio of C/X, where C is the unknown cost of the trip. So (20/Z)=(C/X), or (20X/Z) = C
holy shit ... I hope someone will make sense of all this.
After I realized how much gas costs these days, I stopped driving around so much during my free time. Basically I calculated that it costs me about a dollar for every 10 miles driven ... it really adds up.
or you could NOT do all that bullshit and just do this:
A=Miles driven
B=MPG of car
A/B= (answer is gallons of gas used)
multiply answer by price of gasoline. (answer in dollars)
wow, 7 paragraphs condensed into 2 lines. some people are too fond of bafflegabbing to make themselves feel/sound smarter. whereas a simple to the point solution demonstrates more intelligence (in my opinion at least).
currently costs me 2.29 a day to go to work; gas price 3.19, 25mpg, 18mi. but me and my girl carpool, so the effective cost per day is only 1.15 a day
hey, it's been awhile since I had algebra. yup, your answer looks right, thanks for sharing You are a genius!
Here's another longer version...
A = miles driven for trip
B = actual MPG of car
G = average price paid at pump to fill it up (or X*Y)
find x, where x is the cost of trip
equation: A/B = x/G or (AG)/B = x
Anyways, it's pretty easy to figure out when someone pays attention to what they're paying at the pump, how much gas in gallons, and how many miles they get out of it.
or you could NOT do all that bullshit and just do this:
A=Miles driven
B=MPG of car
A/B= (answer is gallons of gas used)
multiply answer by price of gasoline. (answer in dollars)
wow, 7 paragraphs condensed into 2 lines. some people are too fond of bafflegabbing to make themselves feel/sound smarter. whereas a simple to the point solution demonstrates more intelligence (in my opinion at least).
What are you daft? The paragraph he posted clearly explained how to calculate your actual MPG (+/- a small amount) because we all know that the numbers given from the company (exp: 25mpg city/38 highway) are complete bullshit.
And I have been doing this for years. Notice in all the milage related threads I post in, I give multiple readings and usually even have my cost per Kilometer worked out.
It's not that hard, and for most people like us, a full page explanation is not needed, but I worked with someone at my chevy dealership who thought her ford escape got better milage than her toyota tercel because she could drive the escape longer before filling it up. ... yeah, we fired her.
I don't even want to think about what my MPG is. I went to autozone and got a bottle of fuel system cleaner, got my tires to proper pressure, and filled up the tank. For the past 3 days I've been shifting no higher than 2500rpm (yeah it's killing me) and kept off the highway, which isn't a big deal. I've also eliminated any extra travel. Just work, school, girl. The needle has barely dropped below the top notch, it was a little off the guage when I filled it. Done about 35 miles since filling it too.
__________________
1992 240sx SE HICAS -- "johnny five"
Quote:
Originally Posted by sethwas
cars haven't polluted in over 10 years. The air outside is routinely cleaner than car exhaust.
What are you daft? The paragraph he posted clearly explained how to calculate your actual MPG (+/- a small amount) because we all know that the numbers given from the company (exp: 25mpg city/38 highway) are complete bullshit.
And I have been doing this for years. Notice in all the milage related threads I post in, I give multiple readings and usually even have my cost per Kilometer worked out.
It's not that hard, and for most people like us, a full page explanation is not needed, but I worked with someone at my chevy dealership who thought her ford escape got better milage than her toyota tercel because she could drive the escape longer before filling it up. ... yeah, we fired her.
ok, take out the TWO paragraphs to explain how to get actual mileage and you're still left with 5 mostly useless paragraphs. and for some reason i dont think necro actually wrote that...thats why i'm so hard on it (because i think its BS from some publication)
and BTW, i had to use my TI-92 to plot a fuel consumption progression over the period of several months to get the most accurate fuel consumption rates...lol
It's not that hard, and for most people like us, a full page explanation is not needed, but I worked with someone at my chevy dealership who thought her ford escape got better milage than her toyota tercel because she could drive the escape longer before filling it up. ... yeah, we fired her.
You are a genius! 
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