Question

Josiah made a scale drawing of a swimming pool. The diving board, which is 1 foot wide in real life, is 2 inches wide in the drawing. What is the scale factor of the drawing?Simplify your answer and write it as a ratio, using a colon.

Answer 1

We have a scale 2 in to 1 ft.

In order to write the ratio, we have to have the same units for both sides of the scale.

Remembering that 1 ft is 12 inches, we can convert them as:

$\frac{2\text{ in}}{1\text{ ft}}\cdot(\frac{1\text{ ft}}{12\text{ in}})=\frac{2}{12}=\frac{1}{6}=1\colon6$

Answer: the scale is 1:6, meaning that one unit in the drawing represents 6 units of the swimming pool.