A blueprint for a garage has a scale of 1.5 cm to 3 m. On the blueprint, the length of one wall is 8 cm. If w represents the length of the actual wall, what is w?
1 m = 100 cm
1 cm = 1 / 100 m
1.5 cm = 1.5 / 100 m = 0.015 m
8 cm = 8 / 100 m = 0.08 m
1.5 cm / 3 m = 8 cm / w m
0.015 m / 3 m = 0.08 m / w m
0.015 / 3 = 0.08 / w
Cross multiply.
0.015 w = 0.24
w = 0.24 / 0.015 =16
w = 16 m
Or simpler:
w = 3 / 1.5 ∙ 8 = 24 / 1.5 = 16
w = 16 m