Irene drew a scale drawing of a restaurant. The scale she used was 1 centimeter : 10 meters. If the restaurant's kitchen is 2 centimeters in the drawing, how wide is the actual kitchen?

Question

Scale drawings are very confusing to me, as the IXL tells me that you have to multiply the fractions by the answer, even though I'm trying to find the answer? Please help

Answer 1

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Think of relative scales as equal proportions, or ratios, or fractions. Pay attention to units as well, keeping units the same in the fractions’ numerators and denominators when equating.

Let us rephrase the problem statement as a numerical ratio (or fraction)…

cm : m……...…units only, given

1cm : 10m………Ratio1, given numerical ratio (1 centimeter equals

10 meters)

2cm : ?m…..…..Ratio2, kitchen width, problem statement question

Set up the above ratios rewritten as equal fractions…

Ratio1 = Ratio2……above assigned ratios equated

1cm/10m = 2cm/?m….substitute values

1/10=2/x………...ratio, units removed, “x” unknown value

1(x)=2(10)……...cross multiply

∴ x=20…..…….simplify

∴ Ans: The actual width of the kitchen is 20 meters.