Question

I don't understand the first one.

Answer 1

Yes they are similar in size because if you simplify both of them to get an equivalent number, 6 x 8 is 3 x 4 simplified and 9 x 12 simplified is 3 x 4. Obviously there are more methods, although I highly recommend this

Answer 2

Basically the question is asking if the proportions for the dimensions of the 2 rugs are the same, so in this case yes, since 6 X 8 can be written as 3 X 4 which if you set up a fraction you can easily multiply both the top and bottom number by 3 to get 9 X 12.