Lance is a local scrap merchant. He had to travel to the county recycling plant, 60 miles away. On the way there he could only manage a steady 12 miles per hour (mph), fully laden.
On the way back,Lance could manage a steady 16mph. He placed 24 gallons of fuel in the tank ready for the round trip, thinking that this would be enough as the wagon managed to travel 8 miles per gallon.
Unfortunately, a piece of metal pierced his fuel pipe at the start of the trip and the wagon started to lose 1 gallon of fuel per hour.
Luckily he only lost fuel when moving and he lost no fuel whilst unloading his scrap metal.
Were 24 gallons enough for the round trip?
I'm sitting here at my campsite, trying to work this out mentally...
The laden trip takes 5 hours, the return trip less than 4. So let's estimate 9 hours of fuel spillage. That leaves 15 gallons for travel. 15 x 8 is 120, which equals the required round trip. Since he return trip is actually a little less than 4 hours the merchant should make it back with a little to spare.
|
|
Posted by Kenny M
on 2023-08-06 07:34:30 |
Mental math
