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A picture 3 1/4 inches long and 2 1/8 inches wide is to be enlarged so that its length will become 6 1/2 inches. What will be the width of the enlarged picture?

1 Answer

1 vote

Answer:

8 1/2 inches.

Explanation:

We can use the concept of proportions to solve this problem. Let's call the width of the enlarged picture "x".

The original picture has a length of 3 1/4 inches and a width of 2 1/8 inches. The ratio of its length to its width is:

3 1/4 ÷ 2 1/8 =

(13/4) ÷ (17/8) =

13/4 × 8/17 =

104/68 = 26/17

This means that the original picture is 26/17 times as long as it is wide.

We want to enlarge the length to 6 1/2 inches while keeping the same ratio of length to width. Therefore, we can set up the following proportion:

6 1/2 ÷ x = 26/17

To solve for x, we can cross-multiply and simplify:

6 1/2 × 17 = x × 26

(13/2) × 17 = x × 26

221/2 = 13x

x = (221/2) ÷ 13

x = 17/2

Therefore, the width of the enlarged picture will be 17/2 inches, or 8 1/2 inches.

User Peter Gerasimenko
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