Let us say that:
x = number of orange balls
144 –x = number of blue balls
From the given statement, we can create the equations:
probability of drawing two orange balls = probability of drawing two different colored ball
(x / 144) [(x – 1) / 143] = (x / 144) [(144 –x) / 143] + [(144 –x) / 144] (x / 143)
Divide everything by x, and multiply everything by 144*143:
(x – 1) = (144 – x) + (144 –x)
x – 1 = 288 – 2x
3x = 289
x = 96.33 ~ 96
144 – x = 48
So there are about 96 orange balls