Question

grayson drew a scale drawing of the high school. he used the scale 4 centimeters = 5 meters. what scale factor does the drawing use? simplify your answer and write it as a fraction.

Explanation:

Step1: Convert units to be consistent

First, convert 5 meters to centimeters. Since 1 meter = 100 centimeters, 5 meters = \(5\times100 = 500\) centimeters.

Step2: Define scale factor

The scale factor is the ratio of the drawing length to the actual length. Here, drawing length is 4 centimeters and actual length is 500 centimeters. So the scale factor is \(\frac{4}{500}\).

Step3: Simplify the fraction

Simplify \(\frac{4}{500}\) by dividing numerator and denominator by their greatest common divisor, which is 4. \(\frac{4\div4}{500\div4}=\frac{1}{125}\).

Answer:

\(\frac{1}{125}\)