Planning & EstimatingQuestion 634 of 700
On a civil drawing using an engineer's scale of 1 inch = 20 feet, a property line measures 4.5 inches on the paper. What is its actual length, and how does an engineer's scale differ from an architect's scale?
a.90 feet; the engineer's scale divides the inch into decimal units (e.g., 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 per inch), whereas the architect's scale is based on feet-and-inches fractions.
b.20 feet; the two scales are identical in how they divide the inch.
c.4.5 feet; the engineer's scale uses fractions of an inch that each equal one foot.
d.900 feet; the engineer's scale multiplies every inch by 200.
Explanation
Correct: 4.5 inches x 20 feet per inch = 90 feet. The engineer's scale divides each inch into decimal parts (10, 20, 30, ... per inch) and suits civil/site work, while the architect's scale uses fractional-inch-per-foot ratios (e.g., 1/4 inch = 1 foot) for building plans. '20 feet' ignores the measured length. '4.5 feet' confuses the scales. '900 feet' multiplies by the wrong factor.
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