Question

Melany takes her little sister to the zoo. They go see their favorite animal, the giraffe. At the gift shop, Melany buys a stuffed giraffe for her little sister that has a scale on 4 in : 3 ft. If the real giraffe is 18 feet tall, how tall is the stuffed giraffe, in inches?

Answer 1

Let us set up a proportion.

4/3 = 18/t

Let t = height of giraffe (in inches)

We also have to change units to make our math work easier.

There are 12 inches in one foot.

So, 3 feet = 36 inches and 18 feet = 216 inches.

Our new proportion set up is:

4/t = 36/216

36t = 4(216)

36t = 864

t = 864/36

t = 24

The toy giraffe is 24 inches tall.