To find the area of the triangle in the scale drawing, we can use the formula for the area of a triangle:
\[ \text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times \text{base} \times \text{height} \]
In the original triangle, the base is 8 inches and the height is 5 inches. The area of the original triangle is:
\[ \text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times 8 \times 5 = \frac{1}{2} \times 40 = 20 \text{ square inches} \]
Now, to find the area of Crystal's scale drawing, we note that the height is reduced from 5 inches to 2 inches. This scale factor can be calculated by comparing the new height to the original height:
\[ \text{Scale Factor} = \frac{\text{new height}}{\text{original height}} = \frac{2}{5} \]
Since both the height and base of the triangle scale in the same ratio, the scale drawing also has a base that is scaled similarly. The base in the original triangle is 8 inches, so the base in the scale drawing is:
\[ \text{New base} = 8 \times \frac{2}{5} = 3.2 \text{ inches} \]
Now we can find the area of the scale drawing using the new height and new base:
\[ \text{Area of scale drawing} = \frac{1}{2} \times \text{New base} \times \text{New height} = \frac{1}{2} \times 3.2 \times 2 \]
Calculating this gives:
\[ \text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times 3.2 \times 2 = \frac{1}{2} \times 6.4 = 3.2 \text{ square inches} \]
So, the area of Crystal's scale drawing is 3.2 square inches.