for Teachers for Schools for Working Scholars for College Credit
for Working Scholars for College Credit
Course Navigator
Square Roots: Lesson for KidsNext Lesson 

Scale Factor Lesson for Kids: Definition & Examples

Chapter 11 /  Lesson 13
Try it risk-free for 30 days
Instructor: Mark Boster
Sometimes you may want to make something larger or smaller than it really is. You might want to make an object smaller, so it fits in a smaller area. Maybe you want it bigger, so playing with it would be easier. Either way, you need to know what scale factor is so your object does not look odd when you finish shrinking or enlarging it.

Making Things Smaller

Benjamin's father was an architect who made drawings and models of buildings. One day his father brought home a little cardboard building that was built to the scale of a new building that was going to be built downtown. It looked just like a real building, just smaller. Do you ever wonder if you could use scale factor to create something tiny, but that still looks like the real thing?

Doghouse

Benjamin decided to try and build a scale factor doghouse for his dog, Smedley. Scale factor is the number used to multiply the dimensions of one object by to get an object that looks the same but it is larger or smaller than the original object. For example, if you have a square that is one foot on each side, and use the scale factor of two, then each side of the square would be multiplied by two. This makes the square large. Now each side of the square is two feet.

Perhaps there is a triangle that is two inches high and one inch wide. Well, using the scale factor of 1/2, the triangle would become smaller. Now the triangle is one inch high and .5 inches wide. In other words, the sides would all be .5 (half) as long.

Look at the diagram of the triangles and squares; you can see that changing the scale factor does not alter the shape at all, just the size. It is just like if you put a picture on a copy machine and made it larger or smaller. It would look exactly the same except for the size.


Shapes and Scale Factors
null


To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
Create your account

Register to view this lesson

Are you a student or a teacher?

Unlock Your Education

See for yourself why 30 million people use Study.com

Become a Study.com member and start learning now.
Become a Member  Back
What teachers are saying about Study.com
Try it risk-free for 30 days
Description

Earning College Credit

Did you know… We have over 200 college courses that prepare you to earn credit by exam that is accepted by over 1,500 colleges and universities. You can test out of the first two years of college and save thousands off your degree. Anyone can earn credit-by-exam regardless of age or education level.

To learn more, visit our Earning Credit Page

Transferring credit to the school of your choice

Not sure what college you want to attend yet? Study.com has thousands of articles about every imaginable degree, area of study and career path that can help you find the school that's right for you.

Research Schools, Degrees & Careers

Get the unbiased info you need to find the right school.

Browse Articles By Category

Browse an area of study or degree level.

Recommended Articles
You are viewing lesson Lesson 13 in chapter 11 of the course:

 Back To Course

Math for Kids

23 chapters | 325 lessons

{{courseNav.course.topics.length}} chapters | {{courseNav.course.mDynamicIntFields.lessonCount}} lessons | {{course.flashcardSetCount}} flashcard set{{course.flashcardSetCoun > 1 ? 's' : ''}}

Ch 11. Working with Numbers for Elementary School
Ch 12. Types of Numbers for Elementary...

Scale Factor Lesson for Kids: Definition & Examples Related Study Materials

Create an account to start this course today
Try it risk-free for 30 days!
Create an account

Explore our library of over 79,000 lessons

Browse by subject
Support