# How to know percentage or increase/decrease using \scalebox command

In my document, one of the image is coded as \scalebox{0.25}{\includegraphics{map.eps}}, please confirm what is the percentage they enlarged or reduced

• The 0.25 in the first argument is the scale factor. So the image will be reduced to 0.25 * 100% = 25% of its natural size. But is this really the question? If not the question is unclear at least to me. BTW: Using graphicx you could simply use \includegraphics[scale=0.25]{map} for the same. See the grfguide for more information about \scalebox and \includegraphics. – Schweinebacke May 31 '17 at 6:37
• Thanks for your reply, will use the scale option as you suggested – MadyYuvi May 31 '17 at 6:41
• @Schweinebacke one more image is tagged as "\scalebox{1}{\includegraphics{letters.eps}}", sorry to ask again what is the percentage of enlargement/decrease of the image – MadyYuvi May 31 '17 at 6:54
• Again, 1 is the scale factor here, so the image will be reduced to 1*100%=100%, i.e. it will just be printed in its full size. Here, you can just leave out the \scalebox part completely. – Tiuri May 31 '17 at 6:57

First of all, \scalebox{<factor>}{<material>} will make a box out of the <material>. Then it will multiply each dimension of this box by the <factor>.

So, if the <material> turns out to be 10cm wide and 6cm high, with

\scalebox{0.25}{<material>}


TeX will scale the box so that it will be 10cm · 0.25 = 2.5cm wide and 6cm · 0.25 = 1.5cm high.

If the argument is 1, then no scaling will take place (more precisely, the dimensions will be multiplied by 1).

What should <material> be? Anything that LaTeX can treat as a single object: a letter, a word, a tabular environment, a minipage or, as in your case, \includegraphics.

However, graphicx allows for a better interface:

\includegraphics[scale=0.25]{map}


is the same as

\scalebox{0.25}{\includegraphics{map}}

• We always knew @egreg was the master of all things related to % – David Carlisle May 31 '17 at 8:56