Question

A model of a famous statue is 2 1/2 inches tall. The actual statue is 3 1/3 feet tall. What is the ratio of the height of the model to the height of the actual statue in simplest form?

Answer 1

2 $\frac{1}{2}$ inches tall is the same as $\frac{5}{2}$ inches tall.

3 $\frac{1}{3}$ feet tall is the same as $\frac{10}{3}$ feet tall.

If we multiply the actual height by 12, we can convert it to inches:

$\frac{10}{3}$ * $\frac{12}{1}$ = $\frac{120}{3}$ = $\frac{40}{1}$ = 40 inches tall

Divide 40 by $\frac{5}{2}$. Recall that you multiply by the reciprocal when dividing with fractions:

$\frac{40}{1}$ * $\frac{2}{5}$ = $\frac{80}{5}$ = 16

Therefore, the ratio of the model to the actual statue is 1 : 16.

Hope this helps! :)