Maria has five orange, seven green, three red, and nine blue toothpicks in a bag. if maria randomly selects one toothpick out of the bag, what is the probability it will be red or blue?

Well first you have to find how many toothpicks in the bag so O+G+R+B=24. So 24 toothpicks in a bag. And R+B=12 so you can simplify and do 1 of the following

1.12    2. 6    3. 3    4. 2      5. 1
   ---        --      --        --          ---
  24        12      6        4           2

Hope this helps!!