SOLUTION: It takes 5/6 gallon of paint to paint a wall. If there is 1/2 gallon of paint, what fraction of the wall can be painted. I know the answer is 3/5 by drawing a diagram but no idea h

Question 1055547: It takes 5/6 gallon of paint to paint a wall. If there is 1/2 gallon of paint, what fraction of the wall can be painted. I know the answer is 3/5 by drawing a diagram but no idea how to get there mathematically. Thanks. Parent of a 6th grader.
Found 2 solutions by Boreal, addingup:
Answer by Boreal(15235) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Set it up as a proportion.
5/6 gallon/1 wall=1/2 gallon/x wall
cross-multiply
1/2=5/6 x
x=1/2/(5/6)=1/2*6/5=6/10=3/5
Answer by addingup(3677) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Hello, parent of a 6th grader. Here's how to solve the problem:
The area of the wall is an unknown, let it be x. We know that 5/6 of a gallon covers x. The question, though, is what if we only have 1/2 gallon, how much of x can we then cover.
5/6x = 1/2 divide both sides by 5/6
x = (1/2)/(5/6)
x = 1/2*6/5
x = (1*6)/2*5)
x = 6/10 simplify, divide numerator and denominator by 2
x = 3/5
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