Jonah is making candles to give his teacher and principal on the last day of school. For his teacher's candle, Jonah melts 4 ounces of white wax and 12 ounces of blue wax together and pours them into a large mold. For his principal's candle, he melts 2 ounces of white wax and 6 ounces of blue wax together and pours them into a small mold. Which candle is a lighter shade of blue?

Question

GPT-4o mini · Answer

To determine which candle is a lighter shade of blue, we need to analyze the ratio of blue wax to the total amount of wax used in each candle.

For the teacher's candle:

White wax: 4 ounces
Blue wax: 12 ounces
Total wax = 4 ounces (white) + 12 ounces (blue) = 16 ounces

The ratio of blue wax in the teacher's candle is: \[ \text{Ratio of blue wax} = \frac{\text{blue wax}}{\text{total wax}} = \frac{12}{16} = \frac{3}{4} \]

For the principal's candle:

White wax: 2 ounces
Blue wax: 6 ounces
Total wax = 2 ounces (white) + 6 ounces (blue) = 8 ounces

The ratio of blue wax in the principal's candle is: \[ \text{Ratio of blue wax} = \frac{\text{blue wax}}{\text{total wax}} = \frac{6}{8} = \frac{3}{4} \]

Both candles have the same ratio of blue wax to total wax, which means they contain the same proportion of blue compared to the total of wax. Therefore, we can conclude that neither candle is a lighter shade of blue; they are the same shade of blue.