Question

A civil engineer draws up plans for a new highway. On the plans, the length of the highway is 12 centimeters. the scale on the plans is 1 centimeter = 2/3 miles. What will be the actual length of the highway once built?

Answer 1

The actual length of the highway is 8 miles.

Using the parameters given for our Calculation;

• Scale = 1 centimeters : 2/3 miles
• Length on drawing = 12 cm

The actual length of the highway can be calculated thus;

1 cm = 2/3 miles

12 cm = x

Now we cross multiply

x = 2/3 × 12

x = 8

The actual length of the highway is 8 miles.