81.5k views
0 votes
The areas of two similar triangles are 80 square feet and 500 square feet.

What scale factor applied to the smaller rectangle will give the larger triangle?

A. 25/64

B. 25/4

C. 5/8

D. 5/2

1 Answer

1 vote
So in order to get the small rectangle big we need a whole number bigger that 1 or an improper fraction so let's cross out the answer choices that don't meet the above requirements!!

A and C are not improper fractions and are less than 1 so they're wrong!!

We can solve by making an equation,


80x = 500

So 80 × what will give us 500.

We can do this two ways and I'll show you both!!


(80x)/(80) = (500)/(80)

We can divide both sides by 80 and get,


x = (25)/(4) = 6.25

Which is answer choice B which makes sense since answer choice D is too small.

Or, we can plug in our two answer choices and see if it checks out to be 500!!


80( (25)/(4) ) = 500

The above statement is true!!


80( (5)/(2) ) = 500

The above statement is false since 80 × 5/2 = 200, not 500, the number we need!!
User Ho
by
7.7k points