If five mechanical pencils cost #4.27.
we need to find the scale factor used to calculate the cost of 54 pencils
We are given with 5 pencils
We need to find the scale factor for 54 pencils
we need to find out what multiply with 5 to get 54
For that we divide 54 by 5
[tex]\frac{54}{5} = 10.8[/tex]
so scale factor is 10.8
5 times 10.8 = 54
We multiply the scale factor 10.8 by cost of 5 pencils to find the cost of 54 pencils
10.8 * 4.27 = 46.116 = $46.12
the scale factor 10.8 is used to calculate the cost of 54 pencils