On a 1/4 inch equals 1 foot scale, how many inches represent a 20 foot wall?

To find out how many inches represent a 20-foot wall on a scale of 1/4 inch equals 1 foot, you need to first understand the scale itself. The scale indicates that for every 1 foot in reality, it is represented as 1/4 inch on the drawing.

To convert the 20-foot wall to scale, you can multiply the actual length by the scale conversion factor. Since 1 foot is represented by 1/4 inch, for 20 feet, you calculate:

20 feet × (1/4 inch per foot) = 20 × 0.25 inches = 5 inches.

This shows that a 20-foot wall would indeed be represented as 5 inches on the drawing. The correct answer reflects the principal use of scale in architectural design, where larger measurements are reduced to a more manageable size for representation in plans, ensuring that designs can be easily understood and constructed.