CPM Homework Help : MC2 Problem 10-34

The art club has made a scale drawing of the new mural they will paint on the wall of the school. The area of the actual mural is $36$ times larger than the area of the drawing. What is the scale factor between the side length of the drawing and the side length of the mural?

Hint:

Recall that area is always written in units^{$^{2}$} while side lengths are always written in units.
This means that the ratio of of the two areas is $36$ units^{$^{2}$}.
To find the ratio of the sides, find the square root of the ratio of the two areas.

Answer:

This is the ratio of the side lengths of the larger mural to that of the scale drawing. The scale factor is therefore $6$ .
$\sqrt{\text{36 units^2}} = 6\text{ units}$