Practice Maths

Enlargement and Scale Factor — Solutions

Click any answer to watch the solution video.

  1. Calculate the scale factor

    1. 5 → 15:
    2. 8 → 4:
    3. 6 → 9:
    4. 12 → 3:
    5. 7 → 21:
    6. 20 → 5:
    7. 9 → 6:
    8. 4 → 10:
  2. Find unknown side lengths

    1. k=3, original 7:
    2. k=0.5, original 14:
    3. k=15/5=3, original 8:
    4. k=12/4=3, original 9:
    5. k=9/6=1.5, sides 8 and 10:
    6. k=0.5, sides 14, 20, 24:
  3. Similar, congruent or neither?

    1. 3,4,5 and 6,8,10:
    2. 5×8 and 10×16:
    3. 3×6 and 4×8:
    4. Squares 5 cm and 7 cm:
    5. 4,7,9 and 8,12,16:
    6. Equilateral 3 cm and 9 cm:
    7. Same angles, different sides:
  4. Find unknowns in similar figures

    1. Scale factor 2, sides 5,12,x and 10,24,26:
    2. k=20/8=2.5, side 6:
    3. k=25/10=2.5, length 15:
    4. Scale 1:24, car 4.8 m:
    5. Perimeters 30 and 45, k=45/30=1.5, side 8:
  5. Problem solving

    1. Scale drawing:
    2. Tree shadow:
    3. Photo enlargement:
    4. Map scale 1:50 000:
  6. Effect of scale factor on perimeter and area

    1. Rectangle: perimeter 24 cm, area 32 cm², k = 3:
    2. Area 20 → 180, find k:
    3. Square side 5 cm, k = 2.5:
    4. Area 48 m², k = 0.5:
    5. Areas 25 and 100 cm²:
  7. Enlargements on the coordinate plane

    1. Triangle (1,1),(3,1),(1,4) × k=2 from origin:
    2. Rectangle (0,0),(4,0),(4,2),(0,2), k=1.5:
    3. Image P=(6,9), k=3 from origin:
    4. Triangle (2,2),(6,2),(2,6), k=0.5:
    5. Original (3,4), image (9,12):
  8. Multi-step scale factor problems

    1. Scale 1:72, wingspan 36 m:
    2. Floor plan 1:200, room 3.5 × 4 cm:
    3. Similar triangles, sides 8 and 20 cm:
  9. Reasoning about similarity and scale

    1. Flagpole 6 m shadow, post 1.8 m → 0.9 m shadow:
    2. Photo 8 × 12 cm enlarged to length 30 cm:
    3. Pentagons perimeters 45 and 75 cm:
    4. Painting 60 × 45 cm reduced to 10 cm wide:
  10. Successive enlargements

    1. k=2 then k=3:
    2. 5 cm, k=2 then k=1.5:
    3. Square 4 cm, k=2.5 then k=0.4:
    4. Photo 6 × 9 cm, enlarged to 21 cm wide, then k=½: