Question

A scale drawing of a school bus has a scale of 1/2 inch to 5feet. If the length of the school bus is 4 1/2 inches on the scale drawing. What is the actual length of the bus? Explain or show your reasoning.

Answer 1

Answer: actual length = 45 ft

Explanation:

Scale drawn:

1/2 inch = 5ft

Meaning that if the drawing scale is 0.5 inch then the actual bus would be 5ft.

If the length of the drawn school bus is 4 1/2 inches. We can write:

1/2 = 5
4 1/2 = x

=> x = (5 x 4 1/2)/1/2
Or x = (5 x 4.5)/0.5
x = 22.5/0.5
x = 45

Therefore the actual length of the bus is 45 ft