Range and miles per gallon

Another important quantity is fuel efficiency, which in this context means how far a vehicle can travel on a certain amount of fuel.

It is often measured in miles per gallon, and this is popularly abbreviated as MPG although miles/gallon is also often used.

Green car parked on street — Image caption,
New environmentally-friendly cars have a large MPG. This means they can travel further on the same amount of fuel CREDIT: Henrik Sorensen

Here are three forms of the equation:

\(\text{fuel~efficiency}=\frac{\text{distance~travelled}}{\text{fuel~used}}\)

\(\text{distance~travelled}=\text{fuel~efficiency}\times\text{fuel~used}\)

\(\text{fuel~used}=\frac{\text{distance~travelled}}{\text{fuel~efficiency}}\)

Sometimes the fuel efficiency equation can be stated as:

\(\text{fuel~efficiency}=\frac{\text{range}}{\text{fuel~capacity}}\)

Which can be rearranged to:

\(\text{fuel~capacity}=\frac{\text{range}}{\text{fuel~efficiency}}\)

Or to calculate range:

\(\text{range}=\text{fuel~capacity}\times\text{fuel~efficiency}\)

Question

Michelle has found the following information about a hybrid car she plans to buy but she can’t find how much petrol the fuel tank can hold. Calculate the maximum capacity of the tank.

Compound measure combined miles per gallon

Compound measures - WJECRange and miles per gallon