A contractor finds that 4 gallons of paint will cover 900 sq ft of wall area. How much wall area could be covered with 16 gallons of paint?
If 4 gallons of paint cover 900 square feet, you can find out how much area 16 gallons will cover by setting up a proportional relationship, because the amount of wall area covered is directly proportional to the amount of paint used.
Let's calculate it:
4 gallons -> 900 sq ft
16 gallons -> x sq ft
To find 'x', you would solve the proportion:
4/16 = 900/x
You can simplify this proportion by dividing both sides of the equation by the smaller number of gallons, which is 4, this gives us:
1/4 = 900/x
Now we solve for 'x':
x = 900 * 4
x = 3600 sq ft
So, with 16 gallons of paint, the contractor could cover 3600 square feet of wall area.