Question

Shelley drew a scale drawing of the high school. She used the scale 5 millimeters : 3 meters. If the actual width of the parking lot is 42 meters, how wide is the parking lot in the drawing?

Answer 1

We can use the proportion:

measurement in the drawing / scale = actual measurement

We know that the scale is 5 millimeters : 3 meters and the actual width of the parking lot is 42 meters. To find the width of the parking lot in the drawing, we can set up the proportion as:

width in drawing / 5 millimeters = 42 meters / 3 meters

To solve for the width in the drawing, we can cross-multiply and divide:

width in drawing = (42 meters * 5 millimeters) / 3 meters

Converting millimeters to meters:

width in drawing = (42 * 5 * 10^-3) / 3

width in drawing = (210 * 10^-3) / 3

width in drawing = 70 * 10^-3 meters = 0.07 meters

So the width of the parking lot in the drawing is 0.07 meters or 70 millimeters.