Question

A barrier in the shape of a rectangle is used to retain oil spills. On a blueprint, a similar barrier is 9 inches long and 2 inches wide. The width of the actual barrier is 1.2 miles. What is the length of the actual barrier?

Answer 1

Width of the actual barrier = 1.2 miles

Width of the barrier in the blueprint = 2 inches

2 inch dimension of blueprint = 1.2 miles of original

So, 1 inch dimension of blueprint = 1.2/2 = 0.6 miles.

Since the length of the barrier in the blueprint = 9 inches,

length of the actual barrier = 9(0.6) = 5.4 miles.