the gasoline gauge on a van initially read 3/8 full. when 12 gallons were added to the tank, the gauge read 5/8 full. how many more gallons are needed to fill the tank?
Let \(x\) be the size of the tank. Can you create an equation based on the information given?
We could write 3/8 of tank as \(\frac 3 8 x\) and 5/8 of tank as \(\frac 5 8 x\)
"3/8 full. when 12 gallons were added" becomes \(\frac 3 8 x + 12\)
So our final equation is \[ \frac 3 8 x + 12 = \frac 5 8 x \]
So 2/8 of the tank was added and that was 12 gallons. 2/8 is 1/4. A quarter of the tank is 12 then the whole tank would be 48 right? So you'll need 36 more gallons.
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