Final answer:
To determine the amount of solvent in the mixture, calculate the volume of one part of the mixture and then multiply it by the number of parts that are solvent, resulting in 1 gallon of solvent in a 2-gallon mixture.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find out how much solvent is present in a 2-gallon paint mixture with proportions of 2 parts oil, 1 part staining agent, and 3 parts solvent, you first need to determine the total number of parts in the mixture. Add up 2 (oil) + 1 (staining agent) + 3 (solvent) to get a total of 6 parts. Since the total volume is 2 gallons, you can calculate the volume of one part by dividing the total volume by the number of parts, which is ⅔ (or 0.333) gallon per part.
Now multiply this amount by 3, since there are 3 parts solvent, to find the volume of solvent in the mixture. Doing the math, you get 3 × ⅔ gallon = 1 gallon. Therefore, the paint mixture contains 1 gallon of solvent.
The process primarily involves setting up a proportion of the paint mixture's components, multiplying, and solving for the desired quantity of solvent. Remember, conversions between gallons and fluid ounces may be necessary depending on the context, but in this problem, we stayed within gallons for simplicity.