The rectangles below are scaled copies of one another. The side that corresponds to 20 units in the original rectangle is 5 units in the scaled copy.

Question

Start by finding the scale factor from the original rectangle to the scaled copy.
Original Rectangle

12
20
Scaled Copy

5
The scale factor is
.

Answer 1

To find the scale factor from the original rectangle to the scaled copy, you can use the lengths of corresponding sides.

In this case, the side that corresponds to 20 units in the original rectangle is 5 units in the scaled copy.

The scale factor can be calculated using the formula:

\[ \text{Scale Factor} = \frac{\text{Length in Scaled Copy}}{\text{Length in Original Rectangle}} \]

Substituting the lengths:

\[ \text{Scale Factor} = \frac{5}{20} \]

This simplifies to:

\[ \text{Scale Factor} = \frac{1}{4} \]

So, the scale factor from the original rectangle to the scaled copy is \(\frac{1}{4}\).