Question

Antonio is building a 1:240 scale model of a real castle. His model has a rectangular base that is 2.5 feet wide and 2 feet long. What is the area of the base of the actual castle in square feet?

Answer 1

The right approach to this problem is to first determine the real dimension by using the given scale factor. 
    width :     (2.5 ft) x 250 = 625 ft
    length:     (2.0 ft) x 250 = 500 ft
The area of a rectangle is calculated by multiplying the length and the width. 
                    A = (625 ft)(500 ft) ]= 312,500 ft²
Thus, the area of the actual castle in square feet is 312,500. 

Answer 2

2.5 feet wide = actual width / 240
2 feet long = actual length / 240

2.5 * 240 = 600
2 * 240 = 480

480 x 600 = 288,000

The area of the base of actual castle is 288,000 square feet.