You decide to make a scale drawing of your bedroom. YOur bedroom measures 12 ft. wide by 20 ft. long. If you are using an 8.5" x 11" paper, whate scale will you use. Explain.
What are your choices? What is your answer?
To determine the scale you will use for your scale drawing, you need to establish the relationship between the measurements of your bedroom and the dimensions of the paper. The scale is the ratio or proportion between the size of an object in real life and its representation on paper.
In this case, you want to fit your bedroom, which measures 12 ft wide and 20 ft long, onto an 8.5" x 11" paper. However, as the dimensions of the paper are given in inches, you need to convert the dimensions of your bedroom to inches as well.
To convert feet to inches, you need to remember that there are 12 inches in a foot. Therefore, your bedroom measures 144 inches (12 ft x 12 in/ft) wide and 240 inches (20 ft x 12 in/ft) long.
Now, you can determine the scale by comparing the length or width of your bedroom on the paper to its actual size. Since you want to fit your bedroom onto an 8.5" x 11" paper, you need to determine how many inches of your room can fit on each dimension.
To calculate the scale for the width, divide the width of your bedroom in inches by the width of the paper:
Scale = Width of Bedroom (in inches) / Width of Paper (in inches)
Scale = 144 inches / 8.5 inches
Scale ≈ 16.94
To calculate the scale for the length, divide the length of your bedroom in inches by the length of the paper:
Scale = Length of Bedroom (in inches) / Length of Paper (in inches)
Scale = 240 inches / 11 inches
Scale ≈ 21.82
In this case, you would need to use a different scale for the width and length of your bedroom to fit it on the paper. Therefore, you could approximate the scale to the nearest whole number, or you could use a common denominator. For example, you could use a scale of 1/17 (where 1 inch on the paper represents 17 inches in real life) for the width and 1/22 (where 1 inch on the paper represents 22 inches in real life) for the length.
Remember that when creating a scale drawing, it is essential to maintain the same scale throughout the entire drawing for accurate proportions.