Question

Nicole made a scale drawing of her school and depicted the sandbox with a width of 4.5 inches. If the actual sandbox was 9 feet wide, determine the scale factor that was used in the drawing.

(A) 1/24
(B) 1/2
(C) 2
(D) 24

Answer 1

The scale factor used in the drawing is 2, which means that every inch on the scale drawing represents 2 feet in real life.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the scale factor, we can set up a proportion using the width of the scale drawing and the actual width of the sandbox. Let's call the scale factor x:

4.5 inches (scale drawing) / x = 9 feet (actual sandbox) / 1

Cross-multiplying, we get:

4.5x = 9

Dividing both sides of the equation by 4.5, we find:

x = 9 / 4.5 = 2

Therefore, the scale factor used in the drawing is 2. This means that every inch on the scale drawing represents 2 feet in real life.