Does it matter if you say horizontally shrunk by a factor of 2 vs. saying horizontally shrunk by a factor of 1/2? If so what is the difference written out? (Graphical Transformations)

Answer 1

Yes it does matter.

Using a factor of more than 1 suggests that you are stretching

Using a factor of less than 1 (positive number) suggests that you are shrinking

Although it's a small detail, it doesn't really make sense that you are shrinking by a factor of 2.

Hope this helped.