James has a model helicopter. The model is 8 inches long and 7 inches wide. The actual helicopter is 56 inches long. What is the helicopters actual width, if we assume the models proportions are accurate?

Question

mathstudent55 · Answer

Since you know the real and model lengths of the helicopter, you can use those two lengths to write the scale factor. Then multiply the model width by the scale factor to find the real width.

anonymous · Answer

idk what a scale factor is

mathstudent55 · Answer

Let's say a building is 100 ft tall. You have a model of the building that is 1 ft tall.
If you divide the real height, 100 ft, by the model height 1 ft, you get 100. 100 is the scale factor. It is how many times smaller the model is than the real building is.

Now let's say you are told the model of the building is 0.8 ft wide. If you want to know the width of the real building, just multiply 0.8 by 100. 0.8 * 100 = 80, so the real building is 80 ft wide.