Dilations?

paulina_b said:
View attachment 24170
Click to expand...
Presumably you're asking for the answer. But we're not primarily about giving answers, but about giving help:

Posting Guidelines (Summary)

Welcome to our tutoring boards! :) This page summarizes main points from our posting guidelines. As our name implies, we provide math help (primarily to students with homework). We do not generally post immediate answers or step-by-step solutions. We don't do your homework. We prefer to help...
www.freemathhelp.com

That means we need to know what help you need.

Can you tell us what "scale factor" means, and what that might have to do with the numbers shown?

In particular, you have probably been taught a conventional notation, that P is the original point (or may that refers to the whole triangle), and P' (read as "P prime") is the result of the dilation (enlargement). But some words would have been helpful to make the problem clear; did you omit part of the problem?
 
I know that the scale factor is the ratio of the length of a side of one figure to the length of another corresponding figure. This will tell me whether the weather the original figure is being dilated or reduced. The problem is though when you know what "x" is in the figure how can you find the scale factor. I've tried many ways but all seem to be wrong. Wanna point me in the right direction?
 
paulina_b said:
I know that the scale factor is the ratio of the length of a side of one figure to the length of another corresponding figure. This will tell me whether the weather the original figure is being dilated or reduced. The problem is though when you know what "x" is in the figure how can you find the scale factor. I've tried many ways but all seem to be wrong. Wanna point me in the right direction?
Click to expand...
The number "6" in the figure presumably refers to length of a line in the figure. Which line?

Does that help your thinking a bit?
 
I wanna guess that the value 6 refers to one of the lengths of P' but I'm unsure.
 
paulina_b said:
I know that the scale factor is the ratio of the length of a side of one figure to the length of another corresponding figure. This will tell me whether the weather the original figure is being dilated or reduced. The problem is though when you know what "x" is in the figure how can you find the scale factor. I've tried many ways but all seem to be wrong. Wanna point me in the right direction?
Click to expand...
You might want to look for some similar triangles whose sides you know.

I'd also like to see what you have been taught about dilations, specifically. And I suspect you've only shown us part of a problem; seeing the whole thing might help all of us.

paulina_b said:
I wanna guess that the value 6 refers to one of the lengths of P' but I'm unsure.
Click to expand...
Isn't 6 the length of segment CP? It's nowhere near P'.
 
Oh yeah, you're right. and then the length of CP' would be 14. I've only seen dilations where the scale factor I already know and I need to apply it onto a coordinate plane. That's why I'm unsure where to look and what steps to do to find the scale factor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top