Mr. Neeson mixes red and yellow paint to make orange paint. When 4 pails of yellow paint and 5 pails of red are mixed , it can produce a container of orange paint.
question: If Mr. Neeson uses a total of 63 pails of red and yellow paint , how many pails of yellow paint did he use?
(no other further information in the question) i'm stuck
I would start out by writing this as an algebraic expression.
63/(5+4) = ?
? * 4 = ?
To solve this problem, we need to set up a system of equations based on the information provided.
Let's assign a variable to represent the number of pails of yellow paint Mr. Neeson used. Let's call this variable "y".
From the information given, we know that Mr. Neeson uses 4 pails of yellow paint to make one container of orange paint. Therefore, the amount of orange paint he can make using "y" pails of yellow paint is y/4.
Similarly, we know that Mr. Neeson uses 5 pails of red paint to make one container of orange paint. Therefore, the amount of orange paint he can make using 63 - y (since he used a total of 63 pails) pails of red paint is (63 - y)/5.
Since both expressions represent the same container of orange paint, we can set them equal to each other:
y/4 = (63 - y)/5
To solve for "y", we can cross multiply:
5y = 4(63 - y)
Now, let's simplify the equation:
5y = 252 - 4y
Combine like terms:
5y + 4y = 252
9y = 252
Finally, divide both sides by 9:
y = 28
Therefore, Mr. Neeson used 28 pails of yellow paint.