The liquid gallon is a unit of volume in the US customary unit system and uses the symbol gal.
It is the most common use of the word gallon and is defined as 231 in³. It is made up of 4 quarts where there are 2 pints in a quart and 16 US fluid ounces in a US pint. There are therefore 128 US fluid ounces in a US gallon.
The term gallon is most prevalent when discussing and trading oil and fuel. To ensure consistency, the temperature of the liquid (typically petroleum or alcohol) is understood to be 15.6 °C (60 °F) at the time of measurement.
The cup is a unit of volume in the US customary unit system with the symbol cup.
It is equal to 1/2 US customary pint, 1/4 US customary quart and 1/16 US customary gallon. it is also equal to 236.5882365 millilitres.
Used primarily for cooking - the cup was adopted and established as a recognised unit of measure as it could be used by almost anyone in any kitchen. Due to the slight variants in design and size, it is rarely used as an accurate measure for important or critical materials, however it does represent a specific amount and can be used across many recipes to indicate what is needed.