Problem of the Week - Middle School - Dec. 13, 2020 to Dec. 19, 2020

Middle School: 

Question: An ant is 1/16 of an inch tall. A middle school student is 41/2 feet tall. The student goes to a learning center that is 54 feet tall. If we scale by height, then how tall would a learning center for ants be? 

Answer: 3/4 of an inch

Solution: The learning center is 54 ÷ 41/2 = 12 times the height of the student. So, the learning center for ants should be 12 times the height of the ant. Since 1/16 × 12 = 12/16 and 12/16 reduces to 3/4, the learning center for ants would be 3/4 of an inch tall.