Gwen measured a kitchen and made a scale drawing. The scale she used was 11 inches : 5 feet. If a countertop in the kitchen is 22 inches long in the drawing, how long is the actual counter?

1 answer

To find the actual length of the countertop based on the scale drawing, we first need to understand the scale Gwen used, which is 11 inches in the drawing to 5 feet in reality.

  1. Convert 5 feet to inches: Since there are 12 inches in a foot, we calculate: \[ 5 \text{ feet} \times 12 \text{ inches/foot} = 60 \text{ inches} \]

  2. Set up the scale ratio: The scale is 11 inches (drawing) : 60 inches (actual). This can be expressed as: \[ \frac{11 \text{ inches}}{60 \text{ inches}} = \frac{22 \text{ inches (drawing)}}{x \text{ inches (actual)}} \]

  3. Cross-multiply to find x: \[ 11 \cdot x = 60 \cdot 22 \]

  4. Calculate \(60 \cdot 22\): \[ 60 \cdot 22 = 1320 \]

  5. Now we have: \[ 11x = 1320 \]

  6. Solve for \(x\): \[ x = \frac{1320}{11} = 120 \]

So, the actual length of the countertop is 120 inches.

To convert this back to feet for clarity: \[ \frac{120 \text{ inches}}{12 \text{ inches/foot}} = 10 \text{ feet} \]

Thus, the actual length of the countertop is 120 inches or 10 feet.