Question

Sally measured a city and made a scale drawing. She used the scale 5 inches = 1 yard. What scale factor does the drawing use? Simplify your answer and write it as a fraction.

Answer 1

Sally used a scale factor of 5/36 for her scale drawing, converting 5 inches to the equivalent yards in inches. Scale factor problems involve dividing the actual measurements by the scale to get the drawing's measurements.

Step-by-step explanation:

The scale factor that Sally used for her scale drawing, where 5 inches represents 1 yard, needs to be expressed as a fraction. To do this, we need to convert the units so they are the same. Since 1 yard equals 36 inches, the scale factor as a fraction is 5/36.

Examples of Scale Factor Problems:

1. Haley's new school building model has a scale of 1 inch = 6 feet. The actual height is 30 feet, so the model height would be 30 feet ÷ 6 feet/inch = 5 inches.
2. If Haley's school width is 120 feet, then the scale model width would be 120 feet ÷ 6 feet/inch = 20 inches.
3. For the length of 180 feet, the scale model would be 180 feet ÷ 6 feet/inch = 30 inches.
4. Eddie drew a map with a scale of 1 cm = 8 meters, so the 56 meters distance on the map would be 56 meters ÷ 8 meters/cm = 7 centimeters.