Cindy made a scale drawing of a petting zoo. The scale of the drawing was 7 millimetres = 1 metre. What is the drawing's scale factor?
Simplify your answer and write it as a fraction.
Write the scale of the drawing as a fraction. Put the shorter length in the numerator.
7 mm/1 m
First, convert the denominator to the same units as the numerator. Write an equivalent fraction with millimetres in the denominator. Since 1 metre is equal to 1000 millimetres, multiply the denominator by 1000 to get millimetres in the denominator.
7 mm/1 m = 7 mm/1000 mm
Next, drop the units. The units will cancel out because the numerator and denominator are both measured in millimetres.
7 mm/1000 mm = 7/1000
The scale factor is
7/1000.
