Answer:
the closet would have a width of 5 ft in real life. (5')
Explanation:
When forming a blueprint, we often draw out / design the structure before building (so that we aren't just randomly building).
To do this, we are probably going to need to scale down the size of the measurements (scale down = make them each less at the same rate)
And, we usually need to include what the scale factor is (the amount that we are dividing/multiplying by to get from one size to another whilst staying at the same proportions).
If each inch on a map was ten miles, and you drew a 10 inch line, that would be representing a 100 mile line in real life.
1 : 10 = 10 : 100
(a scale factor of 10 is simple to work with logically. If the scale factor was a random number, like 7, finding equivalent ratios / fractions from dividing the original fraction to the value it is indicating. For example, if a map says 1 inch = 7 miles, I would know that whatever you have to multiply to get to 7 miles . There are 63,360 inches in a mile, so there are 443,520 inches in 7 miles. So, if I changed the area I am looking at to two inches, I must find how many inches would be in 2 x 7, [7+7] miles. The method that I found this value through is by finding how much I had to change the 1 to get to 2. I had to multiply the original value by 2, so I also must multiply the corresponding ratio by 2).
So, if 1 inch is equivalent to 10 feet (1" = 10'), and the width on the blueprint is 0.5 inches, we need to find how to get from 1 to 0.5.
(we divide by 2 ; 1 / 0.5 = 2 ; 0.5 x 2 = 1)
If we are dividing by 2 to find one half of the ratio, we will also need to divide by the same value to find the second half of a ratio.
10 ft / 2 = 5 ft
So, the closet would have a width of 5 ft in real life. (5')