2013 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 4

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Problem

Ray's car averages $40$ miles per gallon of gasoline, and Tom's car averages $10$ miles per gallon of gasoline. Ray and Tom each drive the same number of miles. What is the cars' combined rate of miles per gallon of gasoline?
$\textbf{(A)}\ 10 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 16 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 25 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 30 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 40$

Solution

Let both Ray and Tom drive 40 miles. Ray's car would require $\frac{40}{40}=1$ gallon of gas and Tom's car would require $\frac{40}{10}=4$ gallons of gas. They would have driven a total of $40+40=80$ miles, on $1+4=5$ gallons of gas, for a combined rate of $\frac{80}{5}=$ $\boxed{\textbf{(B) }16}$