ACT Math : Fractions

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for ACT Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #21 : Proportion / Ratio / Rate

A new car can travel an average of 63 miles per gallon of gasoline. Gasoline costs $5.05 per gallon. How much would it cost to travel 6,363 miles in this car?

Possible Answers:

$510

$510.05

$101

$505

$405.05

Correct answer:

$510.05

Explanation:

First, find the total amount of gas necessary for the trip. 6363/63 = 101 gallons (easy to see as 63 * 100 = 6300 + 1 * 63 = 6363). Then multiply the number of gallons by the price per gallon of gasoline, 5.05 * 101 = $510.05 and is your answer (again, easy to see when 5.05 * 100 + 1 * 5.05).

Example Question #26 : Proportion / Ratio / Rate

If Denise drives at a constant rate of 65 mph for 15 hours, how far will she drive in miles? 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Remember that distance/time=rate, so then:

x/15 = 65

x = 65 * 15

x = 975 miles

Example Question #21 : Proportion / Ratio / Rate

Joe and Jake canoed down stream in 30 minutes and then up stream in 60 minutes.  How fast were they paddling if the river current is 3 mph?

Possible Answers:

None of the answers are correct

9 mph

5 mph

7 mph

3 mph

Correct answer:

9 mph

Explanation:

The general equation is distance = rate x time.  In addition, the distance upstream is the same as the distance downstream.  So, rup x tup = rdown x tdown.  Be sure to convert minutes to hours because the rate is given in mph (miles per hour).

Therefore, (r + 3)(1/2) = (r – 3)(1) and solve for r.

Note, r + 3 is the downstream rate and r – 3 is the upstream rate

Example Question #28 : Proportion / Ratio / Rate

A car gets 34 mpg on the highway and 28 mpg in the city. If Sarah drives 187 miles on the highway and 21 miles in the city to get to her destination, how many gallons of gas does she use?

Possible Answers:

\dpi{100} \small 8.25

\dpi{100} \small 6.25

\dpi{100} \small 5.25

\dpi{100} \small 7.75

\dpi{100} \small 6.50

Correct answer:

\dpi{100} \small 6.25

Explanation:

In order to get the total amount of gas used in Sarah’s trip, first find how much gas was used on the highway and add it to the amount used in the city. Highway gas usage can be found by dividing

\dpi{100} \small \frac{187}{24} = 5.5

 and city usage can be found by dividing

\dpi{100} \small \frac{21}{28} = 0.75.

Then we add these two answers together and get  

Example Question #29 : Proportion / Ratio / Rate

A car travels for three hours at  then for four hours at , then, finally, for two hours at .  What was the average speed of this care for the whole trip? Round to the nearest hundredth.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We know that the rate of a car can be written in the equation:

This means that you need the distance and time of your total trip. We know that the trip was a total of  or  hours. The distance is easily calculated by multiplying each respective rate by its number of hours, thus, you know:

Therefore, you know that the rate of the total trip was:

Example Question #30 : Proportion / Ratio / Rate

A container of water holds  and is emptied in fifteen days time. If no water added to the container during this period, what is the rate of emptying in ?  Round to the nearest hundredth.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Recall that the basic form for a rate is:

, where  is generically the amount of work done. Since the question asks for the answer in gallons per hour, you should start by changing your time amount into hours. This is done by multiplying  by  to get .

Thus, we know:

Example Question #11 : How To Find Rate

A large reservoir, holding  , has an emptying pipe that allows out . If an additional such pipe is added to the reservoir, how many gallons will be left in the reservoir after three days of drainage occurs, presuming that there is no overall change in water due to addition or evaporation.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The rate of draining is  once the new pipe is added. Recall that:

, where  is the total work output. For our data, this means the total amount of water. Now, we are measuring our rate in hours, so we should translate the three days' time into hours. This is easily done:

Now, based on this, we can set up the equation:

Now, this means that there will be  or  gallons in the reservoir after three days.

Example Question #12 : How To Find Rate

Twenty bakers make  dozen cookies in eight hours.  How many cookies does each baker make in an hour?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This problem is a variation on the standard equation .  The  variable contains all twenty bakers, however, instead of just one.  Still, let's start by substituting in our data:

Solving for , we get .

Now, this represents how many dozen cookies the whole group of  make per hour.  We can find the individual rate by dividing  by , which gives us .  Notice, however, that the question asks for the number of cookies—not the number of dozens.  Therefore, you need to multiply  by , which gives you .

Example Question #13 : How To Find Rate

If it takes  workers  hours to make  widgets, how many hours will it take for  to make  widgets?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This problem is a variation on the standard equation .  The  variable contains all the workers.  Therefore, we could rewrite this as , where  is the number of workers and  is the individual rate of work.  Thus, for our first bit of data, we know:

Solving for , you get 

Now, for the actual question, we can fill out the complete equation based on this data:

Solving for , you get .

 

Example Question #14 : How To Find Rate

At the beginning of a race, a person's speed is  miles per hour.  One hour into the race, a person increases his speed by .  A half an hour later, he increases again by another .  If he finishes this race in two hours, what is the average speed for the entire race?  Round to the nearest hundredth of a mile per hour.

Possible Answers:

 

 

 

 

Correct answer:

 

Explanation:

Recall that in general 

Now, let's gather our three rates:

Rate 1: 

Rate 2: 

Rate 3: 

Now, we know that the time is a total of  hours.  Based on our data, we can write:

This is  miles per hour, which rounds to .

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