For example, the scale of 1:50 means that 1 mm on the drawing represents 50 mm on the object. This means that the object is 50 times larger than the drawing of it. An object 450 mm long would be represented by a line 9 mm long (450 mm/50).

1:50 is a ratio. it means you're scaling 1 unit to 50 units. that could be inches (1"=50") or miles (1 mile=50 miles) or anything else, but it's a direct scale. that works better in metric, because their units scale in multiples of 10.

How do you find the scale factor? To find the scale factor, first find the corresponding sides on the two figures. Then, divide the measurement of the new figure by the measurement of the original figure.