Why can't I scale my image?

Question

I'm using the graphics package and I can insert my graphic into the document without any difficulty, apart from the fact that it's huge!

I am using the following command:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{graphics}

  \begin{document}

  \begin{figure}[b]

  \centering

  \includegraphics{cinema}

  \caption{Fig. 1: Simple Past}
  \end{figure}

\end{document}

But when I insert the scaling option: [scale=0.75] etc. It won't work and I get the message

 Runaway argument?
scale=0.75]{cinema} \caption {Fig. 1: Simple Past} \end {figure} 
! Paragraph ended before \Gin@iii was complete.
<to be read again> 
                   \par 

Answer 1

Use graphicx package instead of graphics, as only the former supports the key-value syntax. For the graphics version, one needs to use

\scalebox{0.75}{\includegraphics{cinema}}

See eg Packages: graphics vs graphicx and detailed guide on graphics with LaTeX.