Question

Andy used 1/6 of a can of paint to cover

1/2 of a wall. How much of the can of paint did Andy use to paint the whole wall? Express your answer in simplest form.
A. 5/6
B. 1/3
C. 1/2
D. 2/3

Answer 1

Andy used 1/6 of a can of paint to cover 1/2 of a wall, so for the whole wall, which is twice the area, he would use twice as much paint, resulting in 1/3 of the can of paint being used.

Step-by-step explanation:

If Andy used 1/6 of the paint to cover 1/2 of a wall, we want to find out how much paint he would use to cover the whole wall. Since half of a wall requires 1/6 of the paint, the entire wall, which is twice the half, would require twice the amount of paint used for the half wall. So, we multiply 1/6 by 2 to find the amount used for the whole wall.

1/6 * 2/1 = 2/6 = 1/3.

To paint the entire wall, Andy used 1/6 of a can of paint to cover 1/2 of the wall. We can find out how much paint he used per fraction of the wall by dividing 1/6 by 1/2. 1/6 ÷ 1/2 = 1/6 × 2/1 = 2/6. To simplify this fraction, we can divide the numerator and denominator by their greatest common divisor, which is 2. So 2/6 simplifies to 1/3. Therefore, Andy used 1/3 of the can of paint to paint the whole wall.

Therefore, Andy used 1/3 of the can of paint to paint the whole wall.