Crystal cuts a piece of wood into shape of triangle. The height of the triangle is 5 inches and the base of the triangle measures 8 inches. Crystal makes a scale drawing of the triangle. If the height of the scale drawing is 2 inches, what is the area of her scale drawing?

Answer 1

The area of a triangle is given by the formula:

Area = 1/2 * base * height

In this case, the base of the triangle is 8 inches and the height is 5 inches, so the area of the actual triangle is:

Area = 1/2 * 8 * 5 = 20 square inches

Since the scale drawing has a height of 2 inches, we need to find the corresponding base length on the scale drawing. We know that the ratio of heights between the actual triangle and the scale drawing is 5:2. So, the ratio of base lengths will also be 5:2.

Therefore, the base of the scale drawing is:

2/5 * 8 = 3.2 inches

Now, we can calculate the area of the scale drawing using the base of 3.2 inches and height of 2 inches:

Area = 1/2 * 3.2 * 2 = 3.2 square inches

Therefore, the area of Crystal's scale drawing is 3.2 square inches.