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Welcome to our math class blog. You will find a mixture of student and teacher explanations of different concepts we had in class.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Scale Factor, Similarity, and proportions are related concepts

Scale factor describes the relationship between similar figures. The word "factor" is often connected to multiplication. Remember in elementary school you learned that factor times factor equals product. So in the statement "2 times 3 equals 6", 2 and 3 are factors of 6. Therefore scale factor tells us how two similar figures are related through multiplication. For example, if you have two similar figures where on the original figure a side is 2 feet and on the corresponding (matching side) of dilated figure is 6 feet, the scale factor is 3 because 2 times three equals 6. The following video shows a bit about how scale factor may be found in similar figures.

Remember that you DOthe scale factor. You write a ratio with the Dilated side over the corresponding or matching side on the Original figure.

Do not forget to complete the homework. The homework for tonight is page 209 numbers 13, 14, 16, 17, 20-24.




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