Is the postcard in the right picture smaller or greater than the painting in the left picture?
Reduction
Practice makes perfect
We are given the pictures of a painting and a postcard with the same painting on it. The postcard is a dilation of a painting. We want to state whether the dilation is an enlargement or reduction. Let's begin by recalling the types of dilation.
Type of Dilation
Definition
Enlargement
A dilation with a scale factor greater than 1 produces en enlargement, or an image that is larger than the original figure.
Reduction
A dilation with a scale factor between 0 and 1 produces a reduction, or an image that is smaller than the original figure.
Now that we know these definitions, let's take a look at the size of the painting and the postcard.
Looking at the given pictures, we can see that the postcard in the right picture is smaller than the painting in the left picture. Therefore, we can say that this dilation is a reduction.
