Question

What is a scale and a scale factor ? Can you give me examples and the definitions

I need help on my math homework about scale and scale factor because I am doing a project which involves these things and it is supposed to be a scale drawing

If you can give me examples, definitions, tips, or any links that would be helpful to doing a scale drawing

That would be very much appreciated and thanks for the help

Answer 1

A scale factor is how many times larger or smaller an object is.
For example, to draw an object that is 50 meters tall, you can't draw the whole thing, so you use a scale factor to make it easier. You might only draw the object as a half meter tall. The scale factor used is .5 meters to 50 meters, or [tex] \frac{.5}{50} = \frac{1}{100} [tex].

The same works in reverse. If you want to make a scale model of your drawing, or are for example building the object from before, you take the height of the drawing and multiply is by 100. So if the drawing is .5 meters tall, the model is [tex] .5 * 100 = 50 [tex] meters tall.

Answer 2

A scale is just a fancy maths word for Ratio or Portion.
A scale factor can be defined when comparing two objects, by its ratio. A good example to think about, would be a Penny-Fart wheel. One wheel is larger than the other, right? Now think about the ratio which the larger is bigger than the smaller one. What would the ratio be? The scale factor, which the small one increased by, to get to the larger one? Lets say one was 4 cm and the other was 8 cm. The ratio would be 4:8.
Also, key points would be to think about the Formula. Like every maths problem, the formula is always an important aspect and plays a huge role in solving the problem.
Also, another key thing to think about are the two IMPORTANT WORDS, used in this. RATIO(which I already mentioned earlier) and SIMILAR FIGURES - The corresponding angles are equal, also their corresponding sides are proportional.
I hope this helped you :0