Question

Andrea made a replica of the Empire State Building. The surface area of the model is 45 feet2.

What is the surface area of the actual Empire State Building in ft.2 if the scale factor is 44?
Enter your answer as a whole number, with the appropriate unit, like this: 42 ft.^2

Answer 1

87,120 ft²

1. Let's review the information given to us to answer the question correctly:

Surface area of the Empire State building replica = 45 square feet

Scale factor = 44

2. What is the surface area of the actual Empire State Building in square feet?

For answering the question, we will make the following calculations:

45 square feet = 9 feet * 5 feet or,

45 square feet = 10 feet * 4.5 feet, or,

45 square feet = 20 feet * 2.25 feet.

Now, let's apply the scale factor to all of these probable lengths of the sides of the surface area of the replica, as follows:

(9 *44) * (5 * 44) = 396 * 220 = 87,120 ft²

(10 * 44) * (4.5 * 44) = 440 * 198 = 87,120 ft²

(20 * 44) * (2.25 * 44) = 880 * 99 = 87,120 ft²

As we proved, no matter what are the lengths of the sides of the surface area of the replica. after applying the scale factor, the result is the same: 87,120 ft²