To find the area of Crystal's scale drawing of the triangle, we can use the formula for the area of a triangle:
\[ \text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times \text{base} \times \text{height} \]
First, we need to determine the scale factor between the original triangle and the scale drawing. The original triangle has a height of 5 inches and a base of 8 inches. The scale drawing has a height of 2 inches.
To find the scale factor:
\[ \text{Scale factor for height} = \frac{\text{height of scale drawing}}{\text{height of original triangle}} = \frac{2}{5} \]
Next, we can find the base of the scale drawing using the same scale factor:
\[ \text{Base of scale drawing} = \text{base of original triangle} \times \text{scale factor} = 8 \times \frac{2}{5} = \frac{16}{5} = 3.2 \text{ inches} \]
Now, we can calculate the area of the scale drawing:
\[ \text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times \text{Base of scale drawing} \times \text{Height of scale drawing} \]
Substituting in the values we found:
\[ \text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times 3.2 \times 2 = \frac{1}{2} \times 6.4 = 3.2 \text{ square inches} \]
Thus, the area of her scale drawing is:
3.2 square inches