Question

Triangle s and triangle l are scaled copies of each other. Triangle m is also a scaled copy of s. The scale factor from s to m is 3/2. What is the scale factor from m to s? Write your scale factor as a fraction.

Answer 1

The scale factor from triangle M to triangle S is the reciprocal of the scale factor from S to M. Since the scale factor from S to M is 3/2, the scale factor from M to S is 2/3.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student is asking about scale factors between scaled copies of triangles. The scale factor from triangle S to triangle M is given as 3/2, which means that M is scaled up by a factor of 3/2 from S. To find the scale factor from M to S, we want to know how much smaller M is compared to S. Since scaling up by 3/2 is the same as multiplying by 3/2, scaling down would be the reciprocal of that operation. Therefore, the scale factor from triangle M to triangle S is the reciprocal of 3/2, which is 2/3.