Question

The height of a building on a 1/4 inch: 1 foot scale drawing is five inches tall. How tall is the actual building?

Answer 1

The height of the building is
`1(1)/(4)\ feet.`

Explanation:

Given:

Scale drawing is 1/4 inch: 1 foot.

The height of the building in drawing is 5 inches.

Now, to find the actual height of the building.

Let the actual height be
`x.`

The height of the building in drawing =
`5\ inches.`

The ratio of the scale drawing is
`(1)/(4)\ inch:1\ foot.`

So,
`(1)/(4)\ inch` is equivalent is 1 foot.

Thus, 5 inches is equivalent to
`x.`

Now, to get the actual height of the building by using cross multiplication method:

`((1)/(4))/(1) =(5)/(x)`

`(4)/(1) =(5)/(x)`

By cross multiplying we get:

`4x=5`

Dividing both sides by 4 we get:

`x=(5)/(4)`

`x=1(1)/(4)`

Therefore, the height of the building is
`1(1)/(4)\ feet.`