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On Word Problem Wednesday, we're looking up toward the stars... and beyond! Solve our space shuttle word problem and check back tomorrow for the answer!
A space shuttle has 1 large fuel tank and 3 small fuel tanks. The tanks are filled with 600 tons of fuel in total. The large fuel tank is completely filled with 400 tons of fuel, and the rest of the fuel fills 21/2 small tanks. How much does each small tank hold when full?
Update: Here's the solution!
Since 400 of the 600 tons of fuel are in the large tank, there are 600 – 400 = 200 in the small tanks. Because 21/2—or 5/2—of the tanks can be filled with 200 tons of fuel, we can reason that each of the 5 half-tanks can be filled with 200 ÷ 5 = 40 tons. That means that each small tank can hold 40 tons × 2 = 80 tons of fuel.
