Question

You work at a photography store. A customer has a picture that is 4.5 inches tall. The customer wants a reduced copy of the picture to fit a space of 1.8 inches tall on a postcard. What scale factor should you use to reduce the picture to the correct size?

Answer 1

0.4

Explanation:

The scale factor is the ratio of the lenght of a figure compared to the lenght of another figure and it can be used to enlarge or reduce a shape. In this case, as the customer wants to reduce the picture, to calculate the scale factor you have to divide the small length by the big length.

Scale Factor Reduction= Small length /Big length= 1.8/4.5= 0.4

The scale factor is 0.4.

Answer 2

To determine the scale factor that should be used in order to correct the size of the post card, we simply have to divide the original length of the picture which is 4.5 inches by the space available, 1.8 inches. This gives an answer of,
scale factor = 4.5 inches / 1.8 inches = 2.5