You originally draw a design for an art contest on a 2 in. x 5 in. card. The second phase of the contest requires the drawing to
be transferred to an 8.5 in x 11 in. standard sheet of paper and utilize as much of the space on the paper as possible. You determine that the largest size one of the dimensions of your drawing can be is 10.5 in. What is the length of the other dimension if the two drawings are similar? Type your exact answer in the blank without the units, and round to the nearest tenths.
<span><u><em>The correct answer is: </em></u> 4.2 inches.
<u><em>Explanation</em></u><span><u><em>: </em></u> We use the size of the largest dimension of the reproduction to find the scale factor. The largest dimension of the original drawing was 5 inches. The largest dimension of the reproduction is 11 inches.
<u>To find the scale factor, divide: </u> </span></span><span><span>=2.1.
Since the scale factor is 2.1, to find the smallest dimension of the reproduction we <u>multiply the original by 2.1</u>: 2*2.1=4.2 inches.</span></span>