A laundry soap company decides it wants to shrink the size of its box to save on cost. The surface area of the original box is 112 cm^2. If it creates a new box using a scale factor of 3/4, determine the surface area of the new box. Round to the nearest tenth if necessary.

1 answer

To determine the surface area of the new box after applying the scale factor of \( \frac{3}{4} \), we can use the formula for the surface area of similar objects, which states that the surface area scales with the square of the linear dimensions.

  1. Given the original surface area \( A_{original} = 112 , \text{cm}^2 \).
  2. The scale factor for the linear dimensions is \( \frac{3}{4} \).

The new surface area \( A_{new} \) can be calculated using the formula:

\[ A_{new} = A_{original} \times \left(\text{scale factor}\right)^2 \]

First, we calculate \( \left(\frac{3}{4}\right)^2 \):

\[ \left(\frac{3}{4}\right)^2 = \frac{9}{16} \]

Now, plug this value into the surface area formula:

\[ A_{new} = 112 , \text{cm}^2 \times \frac{9}{16} \]

Next, we multiply:

\[ A_{new} = 112 \times \frac{9}{16} = \frac{112 \times 9}{16} \]

Calculating \( 112 \times 9 \):

\[ 112 \times 9 = 1008 \]

Now, divide by 16:

\[ A_{new} = \frac{1008}{16} = 63 , \text{cm}^2 \]

Thus, the surface area of the new box is

\[ \boxed{63 , \text{cm}^2} \]