Help needed with scale question.

[Shaftsbury1]

Hello,
ds and i have come across a scale question which i am having difficulty in explaining to him.Can someone please give an easy 10 year friendly solution?
there is a scale diagram of 'harry' on his broomstick and the length of the stick is 1.2m and measures 3.7cm.
the question asks the height from the ground of the broomstick.
this we have measured as 5.7cm
Help! and thank you in advance.

[stevew61]

To make it easier I would expect to see 3.6cm and 5.4cm? As one is 50% more than the other. These questions normally have "easy" numbers.

steve

[Looking for help]

The answer based on your numbers would be

3.6 cm =1.2m
5.7 cm =(1.2x5.7) / 3.6 =1.9
so 5.7 cm is equivalent to 1.9m

It is just simple proportion, but I don't know an easy way of explaining it to a 10 year old other than the way I've done it.

Hope it is of some help As Steve says, it would have been much easier if the one you were trying to find was 5.4 cm, the answer would be 1.8m
Rgds,
LFH

[Shaftsbury1]

Thank you for your replies and yes i thought the numbers were very awkward as well. Particularly as it was the first question on the paper!
But i think i have realised a fatal flaw that i didnt think of before and that is that this paper was downloaded and maybe the measurements have altered
It probably should have been simply double and therefore easier to understand.
thanks again.

[stevew61]

But i think i have realised a fatal flaw that i didnt think of before and that is that this paper was downloaded and maybe the measurements have altered

Thanks for solving the mystery.

steve

[Looking for help]

Although 1.9 is exact, and 1.2/3.6 is a third, so maybe it is right ?