In the sketch, the height of Whisler's mother was 10 inches and the width of her gown was 8 1/3 inches. In the actual painting, the height of his mother was 50 inches. How would I find the width of her gown?

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Answer 1 · 2015-04-04T22:56:30

The answer is: $41 2/3$

If his mother's height was $5$ times longer than the sketch, then the width of her gown should be $5$ times wider too.

Lets say the width of the gown is $k$ inches.

Everything should be scaled with the same proportions so:

$10/50 = (8+1/3)/k$

$1/5 = (8+1/3)/k$

$k=5*(8+1/3) = 40+5/3=40+(1+2/3)$

$k=41+2/3$ inches