Mario noticed that 1 out of every 6 cars on a
car lot was white.
if the dealer had 434 white cars, what was
the total number of cars on the lot?

We know that 1 out of every 6 cars is white. In other words, 1/6 of the cars are white. The fraction of cars that are white should always stay the same, no matter how many cars are in the dealership. If 1/6 of the cars are white, that means that 5/6 of the cars are not white. 1/6 (the white cars) + 5/6 (the other cars) makes 6/6 (the total number of cars). You already know that there are 434 white cars. 464 makes up 1/6 of the total number of cars. 6/6 is just another way of writing the total number of cars. 1/6 times 6 is 6/6, so 434 times 6 must be the total number of cars. You will get your answer by multiplying 434 times 6.