Question

A company that manufactures toy trains is making a new boxcar. To fit on the track, the smallest dimension of the toy boxcar must be 2 inches. What should be the length and height of the toy if the company wants the toy boxcar to be geometrically similar to an actual boxcar with the dimensions shown?

Answer 1

A: length = 12 inches, height = 3 inches.

Explanation:

The company wants the boxcar to be geometrically similar to the original boxcar.

The first step to doing this is to create a ratio. They tell us the smallest dimension of the toy boxcar must be 2 inches.

The smallest dimension of the original boxcar is 7 feet. We can use these two numbers to create a ratio. A 7:2 ratio to be exact.

A 7:2 ratio can be represented as 7/2. 7/2 equals 3.5. All you have to do now is divide the dimensions in the original boxcar by

For example, the length of the original boxcar is 42 feet. If we put 42/3.5 into a calculator, you get 12 as your answer. The same thing is true for the height.

Answer 2

Length = 12 inches, height = 3 inches

Explanation:

First, you have to set up a proportion. 2/7, x/42.

Then, you cross multiply and get the setup of 84=7x

Finally, you divide 84 by 7 and get 12.

12 is the length, and there is no other answer that has 12 in the height. You could just do the same proportion to get 3, though.