Question

to get the paint color moss green, 2 parts violet paint mixed with 3 parts yellow paint. how many parts yellow paint should be mixed with 5 parts violet paint and **EXPLAIN THE ANSWER STEP BY STEP!**

Answer 1

7.5 parts yellow

Explanation:

The color moss green has violet and yellow paint mixed in the proportion 2 to 3. You want to know the number of parts of yellow paint that should be mixed with 5 parts of violet paint.

Proportion

The proportion can be written different ways. We like to put the unknown value in the numerator. (x is the number of parts of yellow paint)

yellow : violet = 3 : 2 = x : 5

Expressed as fractions, the proportion is ...

`(3)/(2)=(x)/(5)\\\\5*(3)/(2)=x\qquad\text{multiply by 5}\\\\(15)/(2)=x=7.5\qquad\text{simplify}`

7.5 parts yellow paint should be mixed with 5 parts violet paint.

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Additional comment

If you kept the proportion as violet : yellow, then the unknown value would be in the denominator. The solution to that proportion requires another step. Here, we just needed to multiply by the denominator value to find the unknown.