To calculate the area of the triangle, we first need to find the area of the original triangle using the formula for the area of a triangle:
\[ \text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times \text{base} \times \text{height} \]
For the original triangle:
- Base = 8 inches
- Height = 5 inches
Calculating the area:
\[ \text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times 8 \times 5 = \frac{1}{2} \times 40 = 20 \text{ square inches} \]
Now, we will determine the scale factor from the original triangle to the scale drawing. The original height is 5 inches, and the height of the scale drawing is 2 inches.
The scale factor is:
\[ \text{Scale factor} = \frac{\text{Height of scale drawing}}{\text{Height of original triangle}} = \frac{2}{5} \]
Since area changes with the square of the scale factor, we find the area of the scale drawing using:
\[ \text{Area of scale drawing} = \text{Area of original triangle} \times \left(\text{Scale factor}\right)^2 \]
Calculating the area of the scale drawing:
\[ \text{Area of scale drawing} = 20 \times \left(\frac{2}{5}\right)^2 = 20 \times \frac{4}{25} = \frac{80}{25} = 3.2 \text{ square inches} \]
The area of Crystal's scale drawing is \( \boxed{3.2} \) square inches.