It's easiest to multiply Mexican gas prices by 0.36
Read more: Local, Economy, Mexico
Many Rio Grande Valley residents are filling up their gas tanks in Mexico where gas prices average $2.65 a gallon.
But gas in Mexico is sold in pesos per liter.
The math can be tricky for many people but Action 4 News has crunched the numbers and posted helpful formulas below.
The easiest thing to do at current exchange rates is to multiply a Mexican gas price by 0.36 to get the price in dollars per gallon.
Here is an example:
Action 4 News did some algebra to convert gas for sale in Mexico at 8 pesos per liter to $2.88 dollars per gallon.
8 pesos x 0.36 liter * dollar = 2.88 dollars
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1 liter 1 gallon * pesos gallon
Please note that 0.36 is the 3.785 liters divided by the peso average exchange rate of 10.40 pesos per dollar.
The above formula is a simplification of this two-step formula:
8 pesos x 3.785 liters x 1 dollar = 2.88 dollars
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1 liter 1 gallon 10.40 pesos gallon
The first step Action 4 News used was to convert liters to gallons by multiplying by 3.785.
Remember that there are 3.785 liters per gallon. That number does not change.
The second step Action 4 News used was to convert pesos to dollars by dividing by 10.40.
The 10.40 pesos per dollar should be changed to the current exchange rate, which can be found at websites like www.exchangerate.com.
Most people find it's a lot easier to just multiply the Mexican price by 0.36 to figure out the price in dollars per gallon.
Vice Versa:
Similar formulas can be used to convert dollars per gallon to pesos per liter.
At 10.40 pesos per dollar, it's easier to multiply an American gas price by 2.75 to get pesos per liter.
3.89 dollars x 2.75 gallon * pesos = 10.70 pesos
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gallon 1 dollars * liter liter
The above formula is a simplification of this two-step formula:
3.89 dollars x 1 gallon x 10.40 pesos = 10.70 pesos
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1 gallon 3.785 liters 1 dollar liter