A rectangle is 14 inches long and 4 inches wide. A smaller, similar rectangle is 2 inches wide. To the nearest inch, what is the length of the smaller rectangle?

1 Answer
Sep 8, 2017

7 inches.

Explanation:

Ratio of width to length of known rectangle is #4 : 14# this simplifies to #2 : 7#
The smaller similar rectangle will have the same ratio. .i.e. #2 : 7 #
Since the width is #2# then the length will be #7#.

This can also be looked at another way. the second value in the ratio

is #7/2# of the first value in the ratio and the first value is #2/7# of the second value

Example: #7/2 * 2 = 7#

Example: #2/7 * 7 = 2#