Henry needs 2 pints of red paint and 3 pints of yellow paint to get a specific shade of orange. If he uses 9 pints of yellow paint and wants the same orange color, how many pints of paint will he need altogether? Explain how you know.

1 answer

To find out how many pints of paint Henry needs altogether when he uses 9 pints of yellow paint, we first need to determine the ratio of red to yellow paint he originally used.

Originally, Henry used:

  • 2 pints of red paint
  • 3 pints of yellow paint

The ratio of red to yellow paint is:

  • Red:Yellow = 2:3

Now, if Henry decides to use 9 pints of yellow paint, we can find out how much red paint he would need by maintaining the same ratio of 2:3.

Let \( x \) be the amount of red paint needed for 9 pints of yellow paint. According to the ratio:

\[ \frac{x}{9} = \frac{2}{3} \]

To find \( x \), we can cross-multiply:

\[ 3x = 2 \times 9 \]

Calculating the right side:

\[ 3x = 18 \]

Now, divide both sides by 3:

\[ x = \frac{18}{3} = 6 \]

So, Henry will need 6 pints of red paint to maintain the same shade of orange with 9 pints of yellow paint.

Now, we can calculate the total amount of paint needed:

\[ \text{Total paint} = \text{Red paint} + \text{Yellow paint} = 6 \text{ pints} + 9 \text{ pints} = 15 \text{ pints} \]

Thus, the total amount of paint Henry will need altogether is 15 pints.