Middle School

The first pentagon is dilated to form the second pentagon.

Drag and drop the answer to correctly complete the statement.

The scale factor is _____.

A pentagon with a side length of 4. An arrow points to a larger pentagon with a side length of 5.

Answer :

Final answer:

To find the scale factor for the dilation of a pentagon from a side length of 4 to a side length of 5, divide the new dimension by the original dimension, resulting in a scale factor of 1.25.

Explanation:

The question asks about finding the scale factor used to dilate a pentagon from a side length of 4 to a side length of 5. To find the scale factor, we compare the new dimension to the original dimension. In this case, the side length of the second pentagon is 5, and the side length of the first pentagon is 4. To find the scale factor, we divide the new dimension by the original dimension, which is 5/4. Hence, the scale factor is 1.25.

To clarify, the scale factor is determined by dividing the new dimension (5) by the original dimension (4), yielding 5/4. Therefore, the scale factor is indeed 1.25. This indicates that each side of the pentagon has been multiplied by 1.25 to achieve the dilation from a side length of 4 to a side length of 5.

To find the scale factor, we want to find the number that we would multiply 4 by to get 5. This gives us the equation 4x = 5. Solve by dividing both sides by 4:
4x/4 = 5/4
x = 1.25
The scale factor is 1.25.