Ashley measured a house and made a scale drawing. In real life, the hall closet is 4 feet wide. It is 2 inches wide in the drawing. What is the drawing's scale factor?

Simplify your answer and write it as a fraction.

1 answer

To determine the scale factor of Ashley's drawing, we need to compare the width of the closet in real life to the width of the closet in the drawing.

The real-life width of the closet is 4 feet. We need to convert this measurement into inches for easier comparison since the drawing's width is given in inches.

1 foot is equal to 12 inches, so:

\[ 4 \text{ feet} = 4 \times 12 \text{ inches} = 48 \text{ inches} \]

Now, the closet in the drawing is 2 inches wide.

Next, we find the scale factor by dividing the width in the drawing by the width in real life:

\[ \text{Scale factor} = \frac{\text{Width in drawing}}{\text{Width in real life}} = \frac{2 \text{ inches}}{48 \text{ inches}} \]

Now we simplify the fraction:

\[ \frac{2}{48} = \frac{1}{24} \]

Thus, the drawing's scale factor is:

\[ \boxed{\frac{1}{24}} \]