Whitney made a scale drawing of a swimming pool. She used the scale 8 centimeters = 2 meters. What scale factor does the drawing use?

Question

Simplify your answer and write it as a ratio, using a colon.

Answer 1

To determine the scale factor in ratio form, we start with the scale that Whitney used: 8 centimeters = 2 meters.

First, we need to convert the meters to centimeters since both parts of the ratio should be in the same units. There are 100 centimeters in a meter, so:

2 meters = 2 × 100 centimeters = 200 centimeters.

Now our scale is:

8 centimeters = 200 centimeters.

Next, we can create the ratio of the drawing measurement to the actual measurement:

8 : 200.

Now we simplify this ratio by dividing both sides by their greatest common divisor, which is 8:

8 ÷ 8 : 200 ÷ 8 = 1 : 25.

Thus, the scale factor as a simplified ratio is 1:25.