If a scale on a shop drawing is 1/4 inch to the foot, what is the actual length of a part that measures 3 3/8 inches long on the drawing?

To find the actual length of an item that measures 3 3/8 inches on a shop drawing with a scale of 1/4 inch to the foot, you first need to understand the scale conversion. The scale means that every 1/4 inch on the drawing corresponds to 1 foot in actual length.

You begin by determining how many 1/4 inch increments are in the drawing length of 3 3/8 inches. First, convert 3 3/8 inches to a fraction of 1/4 inches for easier calculations:

3 3/8 inches equals 3 + 3/8 inches. Converting 3 inches to quarters gives you 12/4 inches. Adding the 3/8 inches, which is equivalent to 3/8 or 0.75/2 (which is less than 1/4), gives you the total in quarters. Therefore, 3 inches is 12 quarters and 3/8 inches adds a small fraction that does not impact whole quarters.

To convert 3 3/8 inches to feet, first convert the total length in inches to feet by multiplying the number of 1/4 increments by 4:

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