Theresa, an outside sales person, uses her car for both business and pleasure. Last year, she traveled 30,000 miles, using 900 gallons of gasoline. Her car gets 40 mpg on the highway and 25 mpg in the city. She can deduct all highway travel, but no city travel, on her taxes. How many miles should Theresa deduct as a business expense?

Miles should Theresa deduct as a business expense=20,000 miles

Explanation:

Given:

Total Miles=30,000 miles

Total Gasoline gallons=900

Highway Mileage=40 mpg

City Mileage=25 mpg

Find:

Miles should Theresa deduct as a business expense=?

Solution:

We are going to make two equations:

Let H be for highway, C for city

Highway Gallons+City Gallons=900

H+C=900 Eq (1)

Highway Miles+City Miles=30,000

40 H+25 C=30,000 Eq (2)

From Eq (1)

C=900-H (Put in Eq (2))

40H + 25 (900-H) = 30,000

H=500 gallons (Gallons use on highway)

Miles should Theresa deduct as a business expense=40*500

Miles should Theresa deduct as a business expense=20,000 miles