Question

Jan is mixing orange paint. The ratio of red to orange is 4:6. If she uses 12 parts red paint, how much orange paint does she need?

A. 9 parts
B. 18 parts
C. 24 parts
D. 36 parts

Answer 1

Jan needs 18 parts of yellow paint to mix with 12 parts of red paint in order to maintain the ratio of 4:6 for mixing orange paint.

Step-by-step explanation:

Jan is mixing orange paint and the ratio of red to yellow paint given is 4:6. This means for every 4 parts of red paint, she needs 6 parts of yellow paint. If she uses 12 parts of red paint, we need to determine how much yellow paint she will need to maintain the ratio.

To find out how many parts of yellow paint are required, we can set up a simple proportion:

• 4 parts red : 6 parts yellow
• 12 parts red : x parts yellow

To solve for x, we can use cross-multiplication:

(4 parts red / 6 parts yellow) = (12 parts red / x parts yellow)

4x = 12 × 6

x = (12 × 6) / 4

x = 72 / 4

x = 18

Therefore, Jan will need 18 parts of yellow paint to mix with the 12 parts of red paint. That would give us the correct ratio of red to yellow paint to make orange, which makes the answer choice B (18 parts) the correct one.