How to calculate the scale reduction: definition of the scale reduction of an object, and the calculation respecting the distances.How do you represent a large object taking into account its exact dimensions ? Using what is called a reduction scale . The reduction scale is nothing more than the ratio between the size of the object and that of its representation – a drawing, a model -. Calculating the reduction in scale of the large dimensions of an object allows us to reproduce with precision the ratio between the dimensions of the object.
How to scale
Thanks to the calculation of the scale reduction we can also discover which real length corresponds to the one indicated in the representation, for example on a geographical map . To be clearer, let’s take an example: on a geographical map the ratio is 1:100,000 , that is, each centimeter on the map corresponds to one km , that is, 100 thousand real centimeters . Given this ratio, we now know which real distance corresponds to the scaled distance between a point A and a point B on the geographical map . If, for example, between point A and point B there is a distance of 10 centimeters , then we know that the real distance is equal to 10 km.
Calculating the reduction scale
If you have to represent large objects , it can be useful to use an equivalence calculator and take the centimeter as the unit of measurement . In all representations created with the calculation of the reduction scale, it is a good idea to indicate the ratio used in order to trace the real size of the reproduced objects .
Magnification scale
The magnification scale has the same principle as the reduction scale and is used, on the contrary, to represent objects that have very small dimensions. Also in this case it is good to indicate the value of the magnification scale used, for example 15:1 , where 15 centimetres of the representation are equivalent to just one of the real size .
