Question

The airplane in the scale drawing has a wingspan of a feet and a tailspan of b feet. If the tailspan in the drawing is 2 inches, and

a
b
= 3, what is the actual wingspan of the airplane?

Answer 1

The actual wingspan of the airplane is 30 feet

Explanation:

The complete question is

The airplane has a wingspan of a feet and a tailspan of b feet. If the tailspan in the drawing is 2 inches, and a/b = 3, what is the actual wingspan of the airplane?

Scale: 1 inch = 5 feet

we know that

The scale drawing is

`1\ inch = 5\ feet`

That means

1 inch in the drawing represent 5 feet in the actual

we have

`(a)/(b)=3` ----> equation A

`b=2\ in`

step 1

Find the value of a in the drawing

substitute the value of b in the equation A

`(a)/(2)=3\\\\a=2(3)=6\ in`

step 2

Find the actual value of a (wingspan)

Applying proportion with the scale drawing

`(1)/(5)\ (in)/(ft) =(6)/(x)\ (in)/(ft)\\\\x=6(5)=30\ ft`

therefore

The actual wingspan of the airplane is 30 feet