Marc draws a rectangle with a height of 6 inches and a base of 8 inches. He dilates the figure using a scale factor of 0.5, or 1/2. What is the area of the dilated rectangle?
When Marc dilates the rectangle, each side of the rectangle is multiplied by the scale factor of 1/2. Therefore, the new height is 6 * 1/2 = <<6*1/2=3>>3 inches and the new base is 8 * 1/2 = <<8*1/2=4>>4 inches.
The area of a rectangle is calculated by multiplying the height by the base, so the area of the dilated rectangle is 3 * 4 = <<3*4=12>>12 square inches. Answer: \boxed{12}.